Update: Moon Area Middle School to Open on Time

 Superintendent Donna Milanovich said the newly renovated Moon Area Middle School will open on time. 

The district is slated to open the facility, which is undergoing an extensive, $45 million renovation, at the beginning of the 2012-2013 academic year. The building will house students in grades five through eight. 

In an Aug. 1 letter to community members, Milanovich said no orientation date has been set for middle schoolers because construction on the facility will continue through August. 

Milanovich said in the letter that the project's completion was delayed after the Ross-based firm Reginella Construction on the project. She said the gymnasium, library and auditorium are still undergoing renovations, but classrooms are largely completed. 

She said the responsibilities of the project are now with Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America. 

"Of course, this is not how we envisioned the completion of the middle school project," Milanovich said in the letter. "However, what has occured was out of our control as a school district." 

She said the district may provide more information on orientation dates in the coming weeks. 

Milanovich told district school board members in July that the project is more than  Students in the district begin school on Sept. 5. 

Click the media in this article to view Milanovich's entire letter. 

The building, which was constructed in 1964, formerly served as the district's high school. 

Click through the photo gallery of the building and share your thoughts on the building in the comments below. 

The building will carry two names, the Moon Area Upper Middle School an Moon Area Lower Middle School, a reference to how students in grades five and six and seven and eight will be grouped in the building. 

Sound off: What do you think of the building? Leave your thoughts in the comments.