Further delays forced inter-school sports activities to be canceled, adding to the frustration.

"You keep promising us final dates ... first, Oct. 17, then Nov. 1," 25 sixth-graders said in a Nov. 7 letter to Dan Nakamura of the Public Works Inspection Branch, state Department of Accounting and General Services. "Why do you break your promises?"

Nakamura said a decision to use an overlay to prevent cracking caused the first extension. The second delay was prompted by the school's request to restore its cornerstone, which had been covered by the asphalt overlay.

"The overlay was not part of the original contract but it benefits the project," Nakamura said.

An executive for Site Engineering Inc., which has the contract for the resurfacing job but did not get to bid on the overlay portion of the project, says the court can be ready for use by Dec. 5, barring weather problems.

Kenneth Nakamura, vice president of Site Engineering, noted that the project as originally ordered would have been completed by summer's end. He advised the state, however, at a preconstruction meeting that simply resurfacing the court would not prevent cracking.

"They had only so much funding and were looking for the cheapest way," Kenneth Nakamura said, noting that design error has been the problem from the start. "So they told us to go ahead. After we started, they called me to stop work.

"They put out a new bid for paving," he added. "The design work and bid process took time."

After the paving was completed, school administrators discovered a problem with the cornerstone on the mauka side, Ewa end of the court.

"The cornerstone was laid in 1912 and the queen was present at the ceremonies," school Principal Karen Tsukiyama said. "They wanted to layer it over, but we wanted it raised."

That job has been completed. "Weather permitting, our subcontractor should be finished with a job by Nov. 25 and should have the Lili'uokalani court done by Dec. 5," Kenneth Nakamura said.