Macomb’s new middle school will not open as soon as the district hoped.
District leaders thought that if everything fell into place, the school could open as soon as August.
“We will definitely not make August now,” said Superintendent Patrick Twomey.
“December, I think, is the new window, and that’s a hopeful window. At this point, every time there’s a hiccup, it pushes it a few more days.”
He said if they can’t move into the building during winter break, the school likely won’t open until August 2023.
Dr. Twomey blamed the delays on two issues:
- Shipping delays meant some roofing materials were late arriving
- Backups at manufacturing plants
“There are only three major roofing companies in the country. And Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, was building these hundreds of thousands of square feet warehouses all over the country. And he booked out the capacity of all three of those roofing manufacturers. That had a significant impact on the availability of roof parts,” Twomey said.
Twomey said he is disappointed, but he does not blame the contractors. He said the shipping and manufacturing delays were beyond their control.
The new middle school is being built just south of the current junior-senior high school.
The estimated cost is $17.7 million. The district received a $1 million grant for the project. The rest of the cost will be covered by bonds that will be prepaid with revenue from the county’s one-cent sales tax for schools.
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