Huntington school board rejects Woodhull modular bids

The Huntington school board's plans to relieve overcrowding at Woodhull Intermediate School have hit a temporary snag with the board's decision to reject all bids it received for a capital project involving the leasing and situating of modular classrooms on the campus.

The combined low bids were more than twice as high as what had been anticipated, district officials said.

The low bid for the lease and installation of three modulars, and plumbing and electric installation, came in around $560,000.

"We were expecting all the bids to come in at about $255,000," said David Grackin, assistant superintendent for finance. "So it's more than twice as much as we initially appropriated."

The cost of the modulars alone came in at $424,403 with only one contractor submitting a bid, Grackin said Wednesday.

The low bid for the plumbing installation came in at $26,975, while the electricity low bid was $108,968, Grackin said.

The board unanimously voted to reject the bids at its Tuesday night board meeting.

School board president Bill Dwyer said Wednesday that the board will rewrite the request for proposal and solicit other bids.

"We're working on a Plan B, and we believe this will get us to a good solution very near to our budget and close to our original schedule," Dwyer said. "We are still confident that we will be able to get modulars in at Woodhull in a very reasonable time frame."

He did not share details of the alternate plan.

School officials had hoped to have the modulars in place by December. Both Grackin and Dwyer said they are now aiming for the end of January.

In April, the board voted to transfer money from the district's reserve funds to lease three modulars to house an anticipated increase in students this fall. The school, which housed grades 4-6 last year, was at capacity, officials said, before the board voted in July to close the Jack Abrams School to students and send all fifth- and sixth-graders to Woodhull. Fourth-graders are attending district primary schools this year.