School Board Tours Middle School, Preps for Move

Staff members will move into the renovated soon after May 1, despite a delay in the building's completion.

Dennis Harbaugh, Moon Area School Board member and chairman of the facilities committee, said the school board on Monday toured the new building, which will open to students at the beginning of the 2012-2013 academic year.

"It's moving along," he said. "Some of the classrooms are already painted. Other parts of the building are still behind."

The building was slated to open May 1, but the board on Jan. 23 approved a series of change orders at no cost to the district that pushed the completion date to June 1.

Still teachers and staff members will be able to move classroom materials and furniture into the classrooms soon after May 1, when classrooms and offices in the building are expected to be finished.

"We don't have the finalized date, but [the delayed opening] won't affect teachers and administrators," he said. "We expect some parts of the building to be ready on May 1."

Harbaugh said work began on the building one month later than expected last year, causing the delay. 

"The library, the cafeteria, things like that are delayed, but they aren't essential for an early move-in date," he said. "We're really not sure how long it will take [for completion], but at the latest it will be the middle of June."

Representatives from the North Hills-based Reginella Construction told board members Jan. 5 that completion of the building would be delayed due to the project's late start and a shortage of local bricklayers.

Superintendent Donna Milanovich called the delay "unacceptable" at the meeting, saying faculty members needed to move supplies and materials into the building before the end of the school year.

The Pittsburgh-based Weleski Transfer has been hired for the move. Manufacturers will deliver newly purchased furniture for the building.

"We're going to have staff move their stuff into the buildings in May," Harbaugh said. "Movers will work over the summer."