Fenty, School Construction Chief Lew Announce Dramatic Changes to Management of School Modernization Projects

Today, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Allen Y. Lew, Executive Director of the Office of Public Education Facility Modernization (OPEFM), announced that the private joint venture general contractor (Arrow/Schlosser) and construction manager (The Temple Group) performing the renovation of Rose Hardy Middle School are being terminated for convenience and that current DC Public Schools (DCPS) staff working on the project are being reassigned.

Lew emphasized that this action is not a reflection on the quality of the work actually performed by the contractors.  The change is being made at this time because neither the contractors nor DCPS staff has met the District’s goals or expectations.

The total gut-renovation of the historic school started in 2005 and was originally scheduled for a December 2007 completion at an estimated cost of $33 million.  Due to poor coordination between DCPS, the architect and the contractor, the project is now more than six-to-12 months behind schedule and $12 million over budget resulting in Hardy students missing one full school year in the new building.

“There is nothing more important to my administration than accountability and performance when it comes to those responsible for our schools.  Our push to improve academic performance is integrally linked to new and improved facilities,” said Mayor Fenty.  “The District expects school modernization projects to be delivered on-time, on-budget and to meet the highest levels of excellence.  The Hardy project falls far short of these goals, and I commend Director Lew for taking bold steps to change the culture in our contracting and maintenance operation and for establishing clear performance expectations for in-house staff and private contractors.”

The announcement coincides with the first draft report analyzing the progress of ongoing and currently planned school modernization projects.  The report found that severa