the denver post B denverpost.com B saturday, december 17, 2011
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a district spokeswoman. Any repairs would be done before students occupy the new addition after winter break, she said. Neenan, a major builder of Colorado schools, has been in the spotlight since its $18.9 million school in Meeker, in northwestern Colorado, was temporarily closed after a review found it was built to the wrong safety codes and susceptible to collapse in severe weather. Neenan agreed to a state Department of Education request for third-party reviews of Neenan-built projects financed through a state grant program. Other districts have asked Neenan for their own reviews, and at least one decided not to wait and conducted its own.
Emerging issues So far, issues have emerged at eight Neenan-built schools, including some known about before the problems that came to light in Meeker. The state Division of Fire Safety, which falls under Homeland Security and oversees school plan reviews and inspections, is reviewing 20 Neenan projects to determine whether a deeper look at the company’s projects is warranted. Klein said the priority is to review recently occupied schools, then projects under construction. The state is paying an engineer between $150 and $200 an hour to review school construction projects, Klein said. The expense of checking on projects already constructed is expected to reach about $20,000, then the state is likely
Other problems found in state review minor Issues with schools have been building up Structural issues have been found at eight Colorado schools built by the Neenan Co. of Fort Collins: Kremmling — A gymnasium roof on a new $11.5 million preschool through eighth-grade school lifted 3 or 4 inches during an April 2008 windstorm. Neenan repaired the roof at no cost. Craig (elementary school) — While the $18 million school was under construction in 2009, a deflection in a beam supporting the second floor was discovered. A review pinpointed a drawing error by a structural engineer hired as a subcontractor. Neenan made repairs. Meeker — An $18.9 million elementary school that opened in fall 2010 was closed a year later after a review found it was built to the wrong safety codes and susceptible to collapse in extreme weather. A repair plan is still in the works. Monte Vista — A review conducted after the problems in Meeker emerged found a new high school under construction needs repairs to strengthen the connections between columns, foundation work and other repairs. Neenan disagreed with the findings but agreed to pay for the repairs anyway. Craig (middle school) — A wing of the 2-year-old school was closed last week to students after a structural analysis found it failed to meet building codes. Locker rooms, the band room, the theater storage room and adjoining hallway areas are temporarily off-limits to students. Akron — Another recent review found a school under construction with help from a $17 million state grant needs foundation work and other strengthening. Grand Junction — Two minor issues were identified at Capstone Charter School, including issues with joist hangers attached to a plate on a wall. Repairs are planned. Adams County — “Minor outstanding issues” were identified in a preliminary review of a new addition at York International School in the Mapleton school district. Sources: School district officials; public records; Neenan Co.
to spend several more thousand dollars to “spot-check” structural engineers’ work for a yet-undetermined length of time, he said. “Until I am comfortable that I can trust engineers, I’m going to double-check their work,” Klein said. But ultimately, he said, “what I don’t want to do is spend additional taxpayer dollars on engineers reviewing other engineers reviewing oth-
er engineers.” The Fire Safety Division issued 604 school building permits last year. About 15 projects each year include high-level structural engineering.
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the budget by $14 million,” Stevenson said. “We already cut $40 million last year and $20 million the year before that. This is huge. It’s going to touch every part of our organization and everything we do.” About $10 million in savings could be gained through four furlough days, which are unpaid days off resulting in a 2 percent reduction in compensation across the district. But because a requirement of two furlough days already was in effect for 2011-12, it would mean an additional two furlough days, or another 1 percent pay cut, chief financial officer Lorie Gillis said. Budget work groups made up of a cross-section of hundreds of people — including district staff, parents, union representatives and other community members — met beginning in September to develop a list of proposed cuts. Earlier this month, they completed a $47.5 million package of cuts for the board of education and district officials to consider in January. Friday afternoon, a 20-member Citizens Budget Advisory Committee — which also included some staff and union officials — released an additional $20 million in proposed cuts. This group also prioritized all $68 million identified reductions, 82 items in all. “How far we go down the list will depend on state revenues and action,” Gillis said. “We won’t really know until early spring.” Additional furlough days are a last resort. But top on the list is a proposal that would have employees — rather than the employer — pay the mandated 0.9 percent annual increase in contributions to PERA, the pension plan for state employees. It would save the district $4.5 million. Another priority is to save $1 million by increasing student walking distances by a half-mile, eliminating some bus routes and stopping busing to option/choice schools. “Nothing has been finally determined,” district spokeswoman Lynn Setzer said. “This is a starting point. Everything must still be negotiated.”
Some of the last-resort cuts are the the deepest. These include: B At the 18 district high schools, nine assistant principals, nine counselors and 150 teachers could lose their jobs over two years. B At the 19 middle schools, all 20 teacher librarians could be eliminated, along with 33 teachers, eight counselors and four secretaries.
School districts must apply for a permit for any construction project from the Fire Safety Division. School districts are required
B At the 92 elementary schools, losses could include 12 teaching aides, 21 enrollment secretaries, 24 teacher librarians, two assistant principals, 19 (all) instrumental music teachers and 194 other teaching jobs. “As difficult as this is,” Gillis said, “we’re preparing and planning appropriately.” Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
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to hire one of the state’s 13 inspectors or a private inspector certified by the state to approve numerous stages of construction — foundation, concrete, plumbing, drywall, welding, framing and others. But those inspections are to determine whether design plans are being followed — for example, whether studs are placed every 16 inches as the blueprints say. They are not to determine whether the design is sound. A building does not receive a “certificate of occupancy” from the state unless it has met those requirements and passes a final inspection by a state inspector. That inspection is to make sure “there are no wires hanging from the ceiling and the ceiling tiles are put in place,” Klein said. Klein said that aside from the Meeker school, other problems discovered so far during the state review have been minor. When engineers look over one another’s work, they may disagree about the best way to design a building, he said. “It’s like getting two plastic surgeons in the room and saying, ‘I wouldn’t tie the knot that way,’ ” Klein said. Last month, the state Department of Regulatory Agencies opened an investigation into the work of Gary Howell, the structural engineer on the Meeker project. Howell had been reprimanded previously for letting his license lapse, and Neenan quickly fired him after learning
about the new state investigation. DORA has not determined whether the engineering work in other schools with problems should be investigated, said Angie Kinnaird Linn, a program director with the agency. “Absolutely, we want to make sure all (schools) are safe,” Kinnaird Linn said. “But I do think we need to go slow as to whether it’s a systemic issue or a matter, unfortunately, of finding issues with a major group of projects.”
Third-party reviews The state Department of Education, meanwhile, has no plans to subject other companies to the same scrutiny that Neenan has received. The department asked Neenan to conduct third-party structural reviews of work on 15 of its schools that received $150 million through the state’s Building Excellent Schools Today, or BEST, program. Janelle Albertson Asmus, an Education Department spokeswoman, said the department made that request because of “the significance of the issues” surrounding Meeker. She said any further reviews would fall to the Division of Fire Safety. Former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who along with former state Treasurer Cary Kennedy was instrumental in starting BEST, encouraged state officials to give the construction problems serious attention. “It makes me very upset,” Ro-
manoff said Friday. “We worked awfully hard to get that money in those schools for those kids. I don’t want to see a dime wasted.” But double-checking every building project in the state would cost too much and isn’t necessary, said Marcia Neal, the State Board of Education vice chairman and a Grand Junction Republican. “I don’t want to oversimplify, but I think that would be a bit of overkill,” she said. Board of Education chairman Bob Schaffer, a Fort Collins Republican, said it is too early to judge whether additional scrutiny is needed, but he said Neenan has “a very good reputation for quality, reliability and so on.” But state school board member Angelika Schroeder, a Democrat from Boulder, said she believes state officials should re-examine the system for inspecting new school construction. She recalled intense scrutiny from local inspectors — to the point of “standing on your head” — during her own property-improvement project. “Is the kind of scrutiny a homeowner gets different from what a school gets? If that’s the case,” she said, “there may be changes necessary.” Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971, egorski@denverpost.com or twitter.com/egorski Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com
Stages of construction
JEFFERSON: Cuts on heels of others
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