Moon approves plans for middle school
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The Moon Area school board Monday night approved final plans for what will be its new middle school, despite a final plea from parents who don't want fifth grade there.
"If there's going to be a group that's upset, if there's going to be discussion, why not have it now before this goes out to bid?" parent Julia Crenshaw said. She and several others said they represented 340 parents who had signed a petition against the fifth-grade move.
But several board members said that the plan was developed at length with the input of a committee including a large contingent of parents. They also said being in the middle school would give fifth-graders access to science labs, large group instruction facilities, top-notch technology labs, art rooms, music rooms and other educational amenities.
Other motives for moving forward: the district would lose money on design fees and would delay the project by up to a year by changing the plans now.
Moon is building a new high school, and will convert the existing high school for use as a middle school. Jeff Foreman of designer Eckles Architecture said the renovation is being designed around housing grades 5-8, clustering grades five and six together and grades seven and eight together.
Superintendent Donna Milanovich said the design was done with input from teachers, to fit what they want to do with their pupils.
"We worked with the teachers and the architects to design spaces to meet their needs," Dr. Milanovich said.
The approval came on a 6-3 vote, with Jeff Bussard, Sandra McCurdy and Mike Nagy voting against. Mr. Foreman said the project is "99.9 percent ready" to go out to bid."
First Published May 25, 2010 12:28 am
