Worker Bob Robertson stretches a roll of plastic fencing around the southeast corner of New York School on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. Nearby residents are concerned about the safety measures that have been taken surrounding the construction at the school.

Construction crews put up protective fencing around the construction site at New York Elementary School this week following an accident last week in which an 8-year-old boy was seriously injured while playing in the area.

Still, people who live and work in the East Lawrence neighborhood have begun complaining about the lack of safety precautions being taken since construction began several months ago.

“That construction zone has not been properly secured for most of the time it’s been under construction. It may be that they’re finally getting around to it,” said Eric Kirkendall, who works at the Lawrence Creates Makerspace in the 900 block of New Jersey Street.

New York Elementary, 936 New York St., is one of several Lawrence schools undergoing major expansion and renovation as part of the district’s $92.5 million bond project that voters approved in 2013.

On Aug. 13, 8-year-old Max McGill suffered what was described as a traumatic head injury after falling at the construction site. Police said he had wandered into the construction site during his play time while he was being supervised by a babysitter.

Max’s father, Joe McGill, told the Journal-World that his son was able to attend school Wednesday for the first day of class of the new school year.

But the incident has raised questions about the school construction sites, especially now that classes have resumed for the 2015-2016 school year.

Until recently, inspections at the sites were being conducted by Douglas County at no charge to the district. That was done so the district would not have to pay the standard inspection fees that the city of Lawrence charges, which would have totaled $285,000.

But the county recently was forced to suspend that service when the key inspector who had been working on the schools’ project resigned to accept another job.

At its July 27 meeting, the Lawrence school board approved spending $49,400 to hire three outside firms to provide inspections at the construction sites.

Kirkendall and several East Lawrence residents also spoke during the public comment portion of Tuesday night’s Lawrence City Commission meeting to complain about what they said was a lack of public notification that the New York school project also includes a large parking lot.

He and others who live in the 900 block of New Jersey said they are concerned that lot will also be used by the general public, including at night by people going to and from establishments in the nearby Warehouse Arts District.

Scott McCullough, director of the city’s Planning and Development Department, said his department reviewed all of the site plans for the projects.

The school district also held numerous public meetings at each of the buildings and with neighborhood groups to present site plans and discuss concerns about the project. Kirkendall said he did not attend the meeting at New York Elementary because he understood the purpose was only to discuss the building expansion and renovation, not the overall site plan that included a parking lot.

McCullough also said that under city construction codes, protective fencing would be required at projects like the one underway at New York Elementary.

Lawrence school district spokeswoman Julie Boyle, however, said the school projects are being inspected based on international building codes.

“Construction site safety, including fencing, is the responsibility of the contractors per their contracts,” Boyle said in an email Wednesday.

Combes Construction, LLC., of Bucyrus, Kan., is the contractor on the New York Elementary School project, Lawrence Superintendent Rick Doll said.

Doll said in an email that the safety of students is the “first priority” of the district.

“All school construction projects have been inspected for quality and code compliance and approved for occupancy,” Doll said.