STANFORD - Above-average rainfall continues to affect construction projects in the Olympia school district, but construction managers believe that "aggressive scheduling" will keep the projects on track.

"We encounter lots of little issues every day, but none of those will prevent us from opening the schools as scheduled," Michael Pflederer, president of Benchmark Construction Management, told the Olympia school board Monday.

The board also learned that a sheriff's deputy will not be based at Olympia High School, Stanford, at the start of the school year as planned. The intergovernmental agreement for the deputy to serve as a school resource officer and patrol the western area of the county may be ready for a vote in August, Superintendent Brad Hutchison said.

During the construction discussion, Pflederer said the schools will open on schedule, but the work may not be completed. The Stanford-based district is spending about $10 million to build a new Olympia North Elementary School in Danvers and renovate the district's four other schools.

At Olympia South Elementary School in Atlanta, the classroom heat pumps, which also deliver air conditioning, will not be delivered from the factory until early September. Hutchison said that should not cause a problem because portions of the building will have air conditioning when school resumes in August.

In addition, the seats for the high school auditorium will be delivered late, but Pflederer was unable to say how late. The contractor still is working with the vendor to determine when they will arrive.

Work on Olympia North again was "hampered severely" by the 5 inches of rain that fell in June.

Pflederer told the board at its meeting Monday the delays would be made up by "aggressive scheduling," which includes "stacking up work."

That building is not scheduled to open until August 2009, but Hutchison said it needs to reach a point where work can continue during the winter.

In other construction-related action, the board approved paving the bus lane of Olympia West Elementary School, Minier, for $21,089 and a roofing project at Olympia South for $12,000. Even with the addition of the paving, the construction project contingency fund still exceeds $600,000, which is "still good," Pflederer said.

The board also approved a $7,500 proposal from BLDD Architects for design services for Olympia North's media center.