The fact that the Montour school board is changing its construction team - again - may sound like cause for alarm.

The last change, after all, came in the middle of what has become a two-year delay in the renovation of Montour High School.

But the new construction manager, Thomas & Williamson Program Management, of Ross, comes with a long resume of successful school projects and a history of accelerated work.

"We used to specialize in over-summer work," president Jon Thomas said at last week's Montour board meeting, "building an entire renovation in three months."

He said he feels "privileged" to get the opportunity to work in a vacated school over the course of a year.

According to its website, the firm has handled a variety of jobs for school districts in the area, including current projects at Mars Area and North Hills school districts.

It also handled a nine-site project for North Allegheny that started in the late 1990s, and when North Allegheny superintendent Lawrence Bozzomo was hired in the Manhasset School District on Long Island, N.Y., he brought T&W in to handle projects there.

T&W entered the North Allegheny project when the school board dismissed another manager, and also completed projects in Avonworth and Deer Lakes that were abandoned when another firm went out of business. So it also has experience coming into a half-done job.

Also telling was the fact that when questioned about other firms interviewed for the job, board president Bill Ewonce and superintendent Don Boyer immediately offered three names: Management Engineering Corp. of Bridgeville, in business since 1972; Turner Construction, a national company with a Pittsburgh office; and the Quandel Group of Harrisburg, a regional company with a 128-year history.

That was a bit of a contrast to the scene in October 2008, when the board terminated the contracts of owner's representative Carl DeJulio and construction manager PJ Dick Inc. and named Burns and Scalo Real Estate to take over construction management.

That move came five months after the project stalled due to over-budget bids. Two months later, the board also replaced the project architect and started the design process over, delaying the process for another year and several months.

A number of observers at the time questioned the lack of school projects on Burns and Scalo's resume, and asked what other firms were interviewed. Mr. Ewonce said he couldn't remember, and dismissed the question as irrelevant.

Mr. Ewonce last week defended the hiring of Burns and Scalo, saying the firm had done a good job in the pre-construction phase.

"We made no mistakes," he said.

But Mr. Ewonce said the district needs a firm with experience in accelerated work scheduled to handle the revamped Montour project. The high school is being vacated next year, and the two-year construction schedule is being compacted to one year.

He said Burns and Scalo had agreed to the change, and that it was allowed, without penalty, in the district's contract with the firm.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.