Construction on a new wing of the School Without Walls is slated to begin this July – a year late – and a school leader cited conflicts scheduling the ceremonial groundbreaking as a major cause for the delay.

Renovations to the magnet high school at 2130 G Street – made possible by the sale of the school’s parking lot to the University for $12 million – were originally expected to begin in the late summer or early fall of 2007. Principal Richard Trogisch now expects the project to begin on July 1, after saying for several weeks that it was stalled because of trouble scheduling a groundbreaking with the city.

“The excuse given so far was that the District has other groundbreakings already scheduled,” Trogisch said in early June.

Tony Robinson, a spokesperson for the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, works with Mayor Adrian Fenty and said if the scheduling conflicts delayed the construction for too long, the school would have to go forward without a formal groundbreaking.

“I know they would like to do something, but the school might have to start construction without the celebration,” Robinson said.

Students began taking classes at the Logan School in Northeast D.C. last fall as a temporary location due to asbestos removal in the Foggy Bottom building. Trogisch said that the removal is now complete.