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Board approves life‑safety repairs and hears complaints about multimillion‑dollar construction delays
Summary
The board approved a $2.7 million appropriation for life‑safety repairs at South Broward High and accepted multiple construction change orders while board members criticized multi‑year project delays at Northside and Central Park Elementary.
The School Board of Broward County on March 18 approved a series of construction change orders and a $2.7 million allocation for life‑safety repairs at South Broward High School while several members pressed staff about long delays on school renovation projects.
Board members repeatedly raised concerns about project timelines. Doctor. Zeman described a change order that took 3½ years to process at Northside Elementary: "Anybody on this board happy with a 3 and a half year change order? The community is really angry," he said, linking protracted construction to enrollment and curb‑appeal issues. Mrs. Leonardi and other members highlighted water damage, unusable buildings and playground problems at Northside that they said have reduced parental confidence.
AECOM project manager Michael McIntyre addressed specific change orders. On a Northside mechanical redesign he said, "The time was needed to change the design on the mechanical system. The system was designed to be an exterior system. The manufacturer of the equipment did not allow that to occur. So the system had to be redesigned, and then permitted and then installed." He described time extensions on several projects as cumulative retroactive adjustments after a time‑impact analysis (TIA).
On South Broward High — where staff requested $2.7 million for structural and life‑safety repairs — district staff signaled urgency but estimated the work would likely take several months to complete. Sonya Kohli described the anticipated schedule: "Once we get that the funding approved, then we can get a a time frame...I would say no more than, maybe 6 months to get it done." Board members urged staff to explore faster procurement routes for true life‑safety fixes and to rethink small change‑order processes that have delayed many projects.
Multiple change orders and TIAs for projects across the district were approved in the consent/open items portion of the meeting. Board members asked staff to report back on steps to reduce multi‑year delays and to consider administrative changes that might accelerate work, including expanded use of pre‑qualified minor construction vendors for appropriate projects.
The board also directed staff to review procurement and contracting practices and to bring options to speed work on safety‑critical projects; no changes to contract awards were made on March 18 beyond the approved change orders and appropriations.
