A second round of bids for construction of the Floyd Elementary School was rejected by the Nye County School District board of trustees Friday.

School board president Debbie Wescoatt said the low bidder in the second round, Straub Construction of Perris, Calif., submitted a letter asking to withdraw the bid due to problems with the structural steel components.

Straub had submitted a low bid of $13.2 million. The other bidder was West Coast Construction Co. of Reno, which bid $14.3 million.

School board officials had hoped the bids would come in under $11 million. The second round of bids came in at more than $2 million above the first round.

A deduction from the second round of bids for modular classroom units would have reduced the Straub bid to $12.5 million. The same deduction would have reduced the West Coast bid to $12.4 million.

Trustees closed the meeting for a 12-minute discussion with their construction attorney. The school board president cited Nevada Revised Statute 241.015, which allows private consultations with their attorney regarding potential or existing litigation.

The building committee met yesterday to come up with a recommendation for the regular school board meeting at 10 a.m. Friday.

School district officials had planned to open Floyd Elementary School by Aug. 1, 2007. It will be built near Terrible's Lakeside Casino on the south side of Pahrump Valley, where large developments planned by Beazer Homes and Concordia Homes of Nevada are planned.

By comparison, the last time the school district opened bids to build a new school in September 2001 -- the Tim and Jackie Hafen Elementary School -- the low bid came in at $6.4 million.

Modulars are no strangers to Pahrump.

The school district has 14 modular buildings at Mount Charleston Elementary School, 12 modular buildings at Manse Elementary School, seven at J.G. Johnson Elementary, six at Pahrump Valley High School, five at Rosemary Clarke Middle School and three at the new Hafen Elementary.