As Class Sizes Grow, Moon High School Lockers Could Come up Short

Crews will install an additional 117 lockers in the new Moon Area High School to accommodate increasing class sizes.

The locker set, purchased through Tri-State Lockers at the state contract price of $18,150, will be installed during the summer season, along a second-floor wall spanning between the gymnasium and the auditorium.

High school Principal Barry Balaski said the school’s current inventory of 1,200 lockers would fall 20 short when next year’s freshmen class enters the high school, necessitating the addition.

This year, 1,072 students are enrolled in the high school—a figure that increased by 44 from the previous year. Balaski said the district projects those enrollment numbers will continue to climb in coming years.

The purchase was approved in an 8-to-1 vote; board member Ron Steele voted “no” on the measure.

“Was that bubble known two years ago?” Steele said, who asked administrators to wait until a district demographics study is completed before making the purchase.

“We built a new building and didn’t provide enough lockers,” he said.

The new lockers are funded through the district’s capital reserve fund.  The district opened its newly constructed $62 million high school in early 2011.

The board tabled a vote on the purchase of 18 new ellipsoidal lights and a control center for the newly renovated middle school auditorium.

The cost of the purchase was $7,118.07. The system was planned to replace the existing, 40-year-old lights currently installed at the middle school. That lighting system was transferred from the former middle school.

Board member Jerry Testa said the lighting was reused in the new auditorium as a cost-savings measure.

The district completed the renovation of its former high school in 2012, opening the facility as the new middle school after a $45 million overhaul.

Board members tabled the motion in a 7-to-2 vote; Testa and Jeff Bussard voted “no” on the measure.