DIXFIELD – First, it was required archaeological digs delayed by rain that interrupted SAD 21’s attempt to buy land in Peru for the district’s new 380-pupil elementary school.

This month, the holdup is state and federal permitting processes for vernal pools.

“It’s always something,” Superintendent Thomas Ward said early Thursday afternoon in his office.

Ward was supposed to open bids Thursday afternoon for the $14 million project, of which the state is paying the lion’s share.

That’s been postponed to Tuesday, Nov. 21.

“We’ve got one vernal pool, so we still have to work out an agreement about how to protect it. I hope that within the next two weeks, we can get it resolved,” Ward said.

According to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, vernal or “spring pools” are shallow depressions that usually contain water for only part of the year. They also serve as essential breeding habitat for salamanders and frogs.

Ward said the permitting process is very confusing, because federal regulations concerning vernal pools don’t take effect until September 2007, but the district must also comply with state DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers requirements to reach a compromise.