An eagerly awaited replacement for James S. Rickards Middle in Oakland Park, which was mostly destroyed by a 2021 roof collapse, is no longer expected to open this year, Broward County school officials have confirmed.
The project, which is already two years behind schedule, has faced more delays in 2026 after the general contractor raised concerns about possible structural cracks. The work has since resumed after an outside review found the structure was safe, officials said.
But it will not be completed in time for the new school year starting in August 2026, Superintendent Howard Hepburn wrote in a March 13 update to School Board members. The exact timetable “remains under reassessment due to recent demobilization, workforce instability, [issues with utilities] and unresolved change orders,” he wrote.
“The scheduled move-in date is December 2026; However, summer 2027 is a more realistic timeframe accounting for possible delay,” district spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in an email. “Regardless of the final move-in date, the District will ensure the facility is safe and ready for students and staff upon occupancy.”
Some Rickards teachers were informed about the delays during a March 2 meeting with Hepburn, project staff and School Board member Sarah Leonardi, who represents Rickards. The school has been operating since the 2021-22 school year in what was intended to be a temporary portable campus on site.
“The reaction of the faculty was understandably that of anger and frustration,” Leonardi told the Sun Sentinel. “I don’t blame them. The staff, families, and students deserve to be in a safe and completed building yesterday. I will continue to fight for quick and safe completion of this school so they have a dignified place to teach and learn in.”
Leonardi said Hepburn “has asked for a thorough review from day 1 through now to determine all missteps and any possible accountability measures that can be taken now and/or once the project is completed.”
District officials say they believe a major misstep was a decision in 2021 to reuse the architectural design of a school in Miami-Dade County that didn’t even start construction until 2022. The Miami-Dade school went through a number of design changes, many of which then had to be incorporated into the Rickards design and some of them after construction had started, causing delays, officials said.
By reusing plans from Zyscovich Architects, now known as Stratus, the district was able to bypass competitive bidding for design.
“The way it was proposed to the board was that it was going to be faster and more efficient and less expensive. It has not turned out to be that way,” Leonardi said during a March 3 School Board meeting.
The Rickards budget has increased from an initial estimate of about $60 million to about $82 million.
The schedule delay is the latest in a string of issues plaguing the school, as well as the school district’s entire construction program, which has faced years of delays and cost overruns. The Rickards project was initially slated to be completed by the fall of 2024.
The Sun Sentinel reported in November that the Rickards project has been riddled with structural flaws, numerous design changes, unapproved installation of doors, stairs and fire sprinklers, and failed inspections, according to monthly construction progress reports.
The latest delays started on Feb. 10, 2026, when an executive with CORE Construction, the general contractor, alerted the district and the architects of a possible structural issue.
“On February 10, 2026, CORE noticed movement in the structural expansion joint throughout the
interior and exterior,” the letter from Core Vice President Brent Elliott stated. “We are bringing this to SBBC’s attention immediately and we request that [the School Board of Broward County] promptly inspect these and other areas and provide CORE with instructions regarding proceeding with work in all impacted areas.
“Safety is CORE’s paramount consideration. Thus, CORE will stop work in any area of concern until CORE receives instructions from SBBC,” the letter stated.
The hallway inside James S. Rickards Middle School in Oakland Park under construction, as seen on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Rodrigo Olalquiaga, project manager for AECOM, which oversees district construction, responded that the engineer for Stratus had provided assurance that the site was safe.
“The Architect’s response indicates that the structure is stable, that no unsafe condition exists, and that no corrective structural measures are required at this time,” Olalquiaga wrote.
Olalquiaga’s letter also said the school district disagreed with CORE’s decision to remove its equipment from the site and would not compensate the company for the extra time.
A spokeswoman for CORE did not provide responses to questions from the Sun Sentinel.
Sonja Coley, the district’s executive director of capital programs, told Hepburn in a Feb. 18 email that “considering the history of Rickards and structural issues,” she was asking an outside engineering firm, WJE, to conduct its own review. Concepcion said that review found the “structural integrity of the building was intact.”
Work resumed on Feb. 23, Hepburn wrote in a Feb. 27 update to the School Board. In the same report, he cited “frequent design revisions” by Stratus, as well as “long re-permitting cycles” from the district’s building department as other factors causing delays.
Hepburn said Stratus had been issued a “notice to cure,” or to fix the issues that were causing the delays.
Jose Murguido, an executive with Stratus, disputes that. He said the firm was issued a “notice of concern,” not a notice to cure, related to the issue CORE raised. He said the matter was fully resolved on Feb. 17 “when our structural review confirmed there were no structural issues” with the site.
The courtyard of James S. Rickards Middle School in Fort Lauderdale under construction on Thursday, March 19, 2026. Five years after a roof collapse destroyed the campus, Rickards Middle remains a long way from completion; the school has operated out of a temporary campus since 2021. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Five years after a roof collapse, James S. Rickards Middle in Oakland Park remains far from completion and has been using a temporary portable facility. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The hallway inside James S. Rickards Middle School in Oakland Park under construction, as seen on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Inside the gymnasium at James S. Rickards Middle School in Oakland Park, construction work continues on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The courtyard of James S. Rickards Middle School in Fort Lauderdale under construction on Thursday, March 19, 2026. Five years after a roof collapse destroyed the campus, Rickards Middle remains a long way from completion; the school has operated out of a temporary campus since 2021. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
James S. Rickards Middle School in Fort Lauderdale under construction on Thursday, March 19, 2026. Five years after a roof collapse destroyed the campus, the school remains far from completion and has been located on a temporary campus since 2021. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
James S. Rickards Middle School in Fort Lauderdale under construction on Thursday, March 19, 2026. Five years after a roof collapse destroyed the campus, the school remains far from completion and has been located on a temporary campus since 2021. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The multi-media room at James S. Rickards Middle School in Fort Lauderdale under construction on Thursday, March 19, 2026. Five years after a roof collapse destroyed the campus, the school is still a long way from receiving a replacement building. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
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The courtyard of James S. Rickards Middle School in Fort Lauderdale under construction on Thursday, March 19, 2026. Five years after a roof collapse destroyed the campus, Rickards Middle remains a long way from completion; the school has operated out of a temporary campus since 2021. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Murguido said the project has faced some challenges due to the district maintaining the portable school on site.
“Unlike a greenfield construction site, every design decision we make must carefully account for the safety of the school community, the sequencing of construction around occupied buildings, and the operational realities of a functioning school,” Murguido said. “Many of the design updates that have been referenced publicly are a direct result of these safety-driven accommodations — not errors or omissions. Designing responsibly in a live school environment is inherently more complex.”
He added, “We recognize that the delays on this project have been frustrating for the Rickards community, Broward County Public Schools, and everyone involved. We share that frustration. Since last fall, we have strengthened coordination across all project teams, increased our oversight presence, and worked to streamline the review and response process to reduce downstream schedule impacts.”
In Hepburn’s March 10 written update, he said manpower on the site had increased in recent weeks.
“The project team is monitoring productivity levels and evaluating any remaining schedule impacts associated with the earlier work suspension,” he wrote.
Inside the gymnasium at James S. Rickards Middle School in Oakland Park, construction work continues on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Scott Rubinchik, a language arts teacher at Rickards, said school staff are surprised at how long the project is taking.
“It was a disappointment that we weren’t going to move into the new building” in 2026, “but it wasn’t something that we were going to let get in the way of us doing our daily job and continuing to teach and educate our students,” Rubinchik said.
The wait has been unacceptable, Hepburn said at the March 3 meeting.
“The community is taking this on their chin without any complaints,” Hepburn said. “And so we have to be the advocates. We have to speak up to let them know that even though they’re not complaining about it, we are. We’re going to demand excellence for them. We’re going to demand whatever we can do to accelerate the completion of this.”