JACKSONVILLE — Even with the inches of rain falling in December, Pogue construction crews are right on schedule to finish construction on JISD's two new schools in August, Pogue Project Manager Brian Rose said.

“We did have a number of inclement days over December, eight to nine rain days,” Rose said. “That doesn't include muddy days, days where progress may have been slowed or delayed.”

He said although normal production might not have been reached during that time, “on the overall master schedule, we are still scheduled for completion in August.”

Superintendent Dr. Joe Wardell said completing the schools before classes start in the fall 2012 semester is ambitious goal, but it looks like they'll make it.

Wardell said construction on the new Joe Wright and East Side Elementary campuses is between 20 and 25 percent complete.

He said he will be excited to see the end result.

“You spend a lot of time getting your thoughts together on paper, but it's really exciting to see the finished product,” Wardell said. “To see the end result – kids getting out there, it's an exciting process.”

He said to outsiders, it may look like Joe Wright is significantly ahead of East Side construction since the steel framing is up, but that is not the case.

On Joe Wright, the steel may be up, but there's still a lot of foundation work to be accomplished. However, on East Side, the foundation had to come first.

“We poured our last slab on East Side (last week),” Rose said. “That's a big milestone, basically we're out of the dirt now on East Side.”

Rose said the foundations on the two schools are different because the East Side site is flat, whereas the Joe Wright is not.

Wardell said the Joe Wright property has a 70-foot slope extending from the front of the property to the back.

Because of that slope, Rose said it was more cost effective to build a two-story structure and use a different type of foundation.

“It would be a huge expense to bring in a bunch of dirt to level it out rather than go to a different slab style,” he said.

Wardell said he and other officials from the district received bids last week for construction on the Fred Douglass and high school renovations.

“I don't have the list in front of me, but we got around 500 bids,” he said.

He said Pogue will go through the bids and will put together a guaranteed maximum price, hopefully to presented at the Jan. 23 school board meeting.

“If it is approved by the board, construction will start shortly after that.”

He said a little work has already been done at the high school, and personell are already excited.

“We actually started one piece of it over the holidays,” he said. “A new drive was poured on the east side of the campus.”

He said the drive on the south part of the campus will be blocked during part of the construction phase, and the new drive will provide an alternate route.