"The project has been going very well," said school board president Rex Mcquaide. "We've been able to maintain our time line throughout the various phases of this project."

As construction of the new Richland High School continues, school is still set to begin on Sept. 10. The project is still on time and, according to Mcquaide, is on budget. However, some questions have been raised about the amount of fill dirt it is taking to complete the project. Mcquaide admits the excess fill was used for his apartment property across from UPJ, but there are rumors that it left the high school short on dirt and more fill needed to be purchased. Mcquaide said that's not the case.

"I think even a couple of weeks ago we were still removing fill from the project," he said.

Mcquaide said it's actually saving the school money by not having to transport the fill as far.

There's also been questions raised about the lack of administrative offices in the new high school such as the superintendent's office. Officials said they looked at renting office space at Vo-Tech and Richland Square, which is also owned by Mcquaide.

"That was a discussion," said Mcquaide. "The subject was brought up to me. I preferred to have the school look at other alternatives."

Mcquaide said they never intended to have the offices in the new high school and instead, opted to move them from the current high school to the Rachel Hill Middle School. That's were they used to be housed.

Mcquaide said the cost to maintain Rachel Hill is about $2,500 a month, but he said the district is saving much more than that. By combining the middle school and high school into the one, new building will save the district about $1 million a year.