SABATTUS – Construction is moving swiftly on the new grade three through eight intermediate/middle school being built on Ballpark Road.

“We are on schedule at this point in time,” Superintendent Paul Malinski said Wednesday.

Malinski told the Sabattus School Committee Wednesday night that the new school’s construction site had recently received a batch of steel that did not fit properly.

The steel needed restructuring, he said.

“We said, ‘Redo it,'” Malinski said, adding that he expected the new shipment of steel to come in by Sept. 5.

Workers are currently putting steel up on the center section of the new building, Malinski said Wednesday.

Construction workers have also dealt with an erosion problem stemming from all the August rain.

“It washed out part of the driveway,” Malinski said. “No one expected that hard, hard rain.”

School Committee member Robert Gayton Jr. asked when all the steel will be up for the building.

Malinski said it should be by the end of September.

Workers want to have the new school building enclosed by Thanksgiving, he added.

Ninety percent of problems happen in the last 10 percent of a construction job, Gayton warned.

“So far, I think we’re doing well,” Malinski said.

Arthur C. Dudley Construction/ Builder of Standish is the general contractor for the project.

The approximately 48,000-square-foot new school will house grades three through eight on Ballpark Road.

The old school will be renovated and house grades kindergarten through 2.

The project, which has been in the works for approximately 13 years, will cost approximately $9,139,000.

Voters approved the project in June 2002.

The new school will hold approximately 375 students.

The new school will have a new music room, a new art room and, among other things, a larger library.

School officials have targeted late July 2004 as the completion date for the project.