A project to add more classrooms and treatment areas for special education students at Center Grove schools has been pushed back.
The $2 million addition onto the professional resource center, which was formerly Maple Grove Elementary School, is part of the school district’s plan to take over providing special education services for about 1,000 students.
Construction had been planned to begin in August, but that date has been pushed back after bids came in higher than expected, assistant superintendent Bill Long said.
The issue is that contractors are busy with several other projects right now across the area, and some of the work would have needed to be done over the winter, costing more, Long said.
Now, their plan is to ask for bids again in the spring and complete construction in 2018, which is about six months later than planned, he said.
The school district is taking over its special education services from Special Services of Johnson County and Surrounding Schools, and needs to be able to provide those services in 2017.
School officials have other plans to be sure to have room for those services before the addition is complete, including pilot programs started in other buildings, superintendent Rich Arkanoff said.
The 7,400-square-foot addition will add four new classrooms, two sensory rooms, and a reception and office area to the professional resource center, which also houses the Center Grove Alternative Academy, preschool and daycare and office space.
