The Mars Area School District should be able to take control of the elementary school addition by the end of the week, while construction is moving along on an addition to the Centennial School.

John Hays, construction manager, told school board members Tuesday that the elementary school addition is "substantially complete" and approximately $80,000 under budget.

All that remains is a final inspection, landscape seeding and hauling away a construction trailer, he said.

The project adds 12 classrooms and a small cafeteria addition to the school. Construction contracts totals $2.8 million.

The exterior of the addition blends in well with the original building, he said. "You can't even tell there was an addition put on that school," Mr. Hays added.

Contractors plan to place the concrete first floor of the Centennial addition next week, Mr. Hays said.

Plans are for the first floor to be built in the next month or so. The exterior block will be put up, then the work will move inside. The exterior brick will be last, he said.

The $4.17 million project will add 26,000 square feet, which will include an addition to the cafeteria.

The original plans were to have the cafeteria addition ready by Christmas, but work is about a month ahead of schedule, Mr. Hays said.

The elementary school holds grades 3 and 4 and the Centennial School has grades 5 and 6.

In other business, superintendent William Pettigrew announced the participation fee for honors band and chorus.

At the Oct. 4 work session, parent and former band director Charles Prijatelj questioned whether students who auditioned for honors band would have to pay the $100 participation fee if they did not make the cut. He also questioned whether a student who advanced through the honors levels would have to pay additional fees.

Mr. Pettigrew said students would pay a transportation fee to cover the cost of the bus that takes them to the audition, would pay the participation fee only if accepted into honors band and chorus and would not pay additional fees if they move up in the competitions to the regional, state and all-East bands and choruses.

"Once you go beyond that level, it's on us, so to speak," he said.

The transportation fee will cover the cost of the bus and be split among students on that bus, so it will vary, he added.

The school board also voted to purchase a 2012 Ford F550 snow removal truck that will plow and salt district properties. The new truck costs $52,927, and includes an aluminum bed and four-wheel drive.

It is replacing a 1986 truck that did not have four-wheel drive or an aluminum bed.

First Published: October 13, 2011, 9:45 a.m.