Warren County Public Schools Board of Education members expressed frustration Monday with how long it’s taking workers to finish installing solar panels at Richardsville Elementary School.

At its regular meeting, the board unanimously voted to table a request from one of the project’s contractors asking for a change order in the amount of $4,633.62.

“They’re robbing our kids with these solar panels,” board member Don Basham said.

The district is losing $52 each day the panels aren’t in place, Basham said.

The panels should have been completed by the end of October, but they’re still not done, said Kenny Stanfield, an architect with Sherman Carter Barnhart Architects in Louisville.

It’s taken nearly four years of construction to finish Richardsville Elementary, which should have been a 16-month project, board member Kerry Young said. The school opened for the 2010-11 school year despite not being finished.

Contractors “never show up at these meetings to defend themselves because they can’t defend themselves,” Young said. “We have to fuss and beat (Stanfield) down when it should not be that way.”

Stanfield said he agrees with the board member’s frustrations. The project has already lasted a year beyond substantial completion in October 2010.

“We shouldn’t be a year beyond that,” Stanfield said.

Contractors will be charged $500 for each day they’re late with final completion, he said.

Stanfield said he’s not trying to defend the contractors, but there are two for the Richardsville project, and the one asking for the change order is responsible for the building, not the solar panels.

Board members still felt both contractors were responsible for the delay in completion, and decided unanimously to table the change order.

“I’m OK with saying ‘We ain’t gonna pay it until you show up,’ ” Basham said. “We’re about at the end of our rope.”

The board also:

• Approved the annual district facilities plan.

• Heard a presentation from district officials about assessment data.

• Recognized school psychologist Lauren Martin for winning a regional award from the Kentucky Association for Psychology in Schools.

• Recognized Kelli Combs, art teacher at Bristow Elementary School, for being named the Kentucky Art Education Association Elementary Art Teacher of the Year.