Delays at Challenger

Like its namesake, Challenger Junior High School is having a terrible lift-off. Also like the space shuttle Challenger, the junior high school’s difficulties are attributable to breakdowns in the governmental system responsible for it.

These failures include poor supervision, weak contracts, inefficient contractors, a lack of enforcement clauses and a weak administrative structure.

Until a month ago, the parents of students set to go to Challenger were being told that everything was on schedule. Suddenly, the project was not just a little late, it was up to two months behind schedule.

First, it was because the classroom bungalows were being delayed. Then, it was because the soil was harder than expected (despite soil tests and many other construction projects in the area).

During the visits of many parents to the site, there was little apparent school district supervision; there was no additional equipment brought on site to accelerate the project, and the workers continued to quit by 2 p.m.

For example, I stopped by the site at 1:50 p.m. on a Friday to find no heavy equipment in use, only six workers present (four of whom appeared to be non-working supervisors), and only one man doing what appeared to be real construction work. Neighbors in the area confirmed that this was the norm.

Unlike the “Can Do” crew of the Challenger space shuttle, the staff of the San Diego Unified School District has a distinct “Can’t Do” attitude. They say they can’t finish on time, can’t add on more workers or equipment, can’t penalize the contractor, can’t reschedule the teachers for a realigned school year, etc. Contractors in private industry face very real penalties (as high as $100,000 a day) for failing to complete a project on time; the school contractors face an unlikely-to-be-applied $100-a-day penalty.

Something is wrong at the San Diego Unified School District, and, like the NASA administration, it needs to be reevaluated and have adjustments made. This may well mean changes in the staff and chief executive positions, as well as changes in policies and procedures. I encourage the school board (if it has the courage) to begin that evaluation process immediately.

FRED COLBY

San Diego