New Park View Facility Dealing With Brick Issue; School Board Faces Vote

Another brick in the wall, or actually another poorly colored brick in the wall.

Putnam County School officials singing the blues after the first layer of bricks in place at the new Park View facility. Director of Schools Corby King said the colors do not match brick to brick, and are far away from the system wanted.

“I think there’s also some concerns about the quality of brick,” King said. “There’s some chippage and some things where the bricks break a little easier and some of them warped. So I think we have multiple concerns. The color is the big one, the one the most notable that we see, but I think we also have issues with the quality in some of it as well.”

Roughly five to ten percent of the brick has been laid, on the back side of the building. The School Board will vote Thursday night on whether to reject the brick job or allow the bricks to be stained. King said with so many different shades, contractors would almost end up staining individual bricks.

“It’s going to be hard to match bricks anyway, because it’s an addition,” King said. “Just like when we add on to a home, trying to match the brick is always a challenge, and the stain could be the same thing. One thing, though, I think the example, and we’ve got a letter of recommendation from the contractor, from a company that they’ve used this particular company at Notre Dame. If you’ve been to the campus or looked at pictures, several buildings on Notre Dame’s campus, they use this stain. So they do all match.”

King said part of the concern with the brick color is the future middle school section of the school project. Officials are concerned with the difficulty of matching the bricks. King said that will already be difficult because of weathering and sun impact when that portion is built.

If the school board votes Thursday to reject the brick job, the school system faces a multi-month delay. Upland Design’s Kim Chamberlin said it will not be a full delay of the project, since crews can continue other work. Chamberlin said it would likely take two to five months to get the new brick.

Chamberlin told the School Board he had never seen that inconsistency in brick during his work.