DIXFIELD – A request for bids to construct a new pre-K through grade 5 elementary school for SAD 21 pupils has been delayed for a month. Construction is expected to start on time, however.

Superintendent Tom Ward said on Tuesday that issues he didn’t identify have slowed down the district’s plans for putting the project out for bid by the end of this month. He added the bids should go out by the end of September.

“We’re hopeful we’ll break ground in November,” he said. “We expect to excavate, depending on the winter.”

He and the board met in a 25-minute closed session Monday night to discuss property issues related to the new school. No action was taken following the session.

“We’re not moving as quickly as we would have liked. We ran into some roadblocks on the closing on the properties,” he said Tuesday.

The issues will not affect the final closure on the sale of 35 acres to the district by three property owners, he said.

The district is negotiating with property owners Andy Walker, who owns 26.9 acres, Isadore Brann, who owns 3.1 acres, and June Moore, who owns 4.4 acres along Route 108 in Peru just outside of the village. He said the district has put $1,000 toward the $45,000 price tag for the Walker property, $500 down toward the $3,500 total on the Brann property, and $500 down on the $5,000 cost of the Moore property.

He said the unidentified issues, as well as acquiring the multitude of state Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Transportation permits, takes time.

Once the school, funded by the state, is built, elementary pupils from Dixfield and Peru, as well as fifth-graders from Dirigo Middle School, will move in. The Peru school may be closed and the Dixfield school will be used for other district educational uses. Canton Elementary was closed last year.

The board will be updated on the progress of purchasing the property on Sept. 25.

meeting.