Moon Area Superintendent Milanovich Garners Leadership Award

The school district also approves a series of change orders for its newly completed middle school.

Moon Superintendent Donna Milanovich has been awarded the instructional leadership award from the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.  Milanovich received a $1,000 scholarship for the honor, which will be awarded to a 2012 Moon Area High School graduate pursuing a career in education. Assistant Superintendent Cynthia Zurchin announced the milestone earlier this week at the Moon Area School Board's monthly meeting. Other items from the school board meeting:  The district's school board approved change orders related to its middle school renovation at an increased cost $24,566.65. Brian Fulkerson, a project manager from Eckles Architecture, told board members that no demolition date has been set for the district's former …

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Moon Schools Okays Renaming Middle School, Contracting Custodial Jobs

The district approves support personnel staffing revisions.

The Moon Area School Board narrowly approved a measure to outsource district custodial positions to the firm Global Management Solutions.  The board in a 5-to-4 vote approved using contract employees to fill two custodial positions in the district.  The non-union positions will be vacated through attrition. No furloughs will come as a result of the move.  Board members Gia Tatone, Dennis Harbaugh, Samuel Tranter and Laura Schisler voted "no" on the measure.  "We just wish they would hold off on it until there is more discussion," Schisler said.  The board convened for a lengthy executive session prior to its regular meeting. Board president Sandy McCurdy said board members discussed the use of contract workers for custodial services …

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District Announces Moon Middle School Orientation Date

Students can attend an orientation on Sept. 4, according to a district announcement.

A back-to-school orientation for students attending the Moon Area Middle School is scheduled for Sept. 4.  The presentation will take place from noon to 8 p.m. at the new middle school building for students in grades five through eight.  Parents can attend at their convenience with their child during this time frame and are encouraged to bring their student's schedule to take a walkthrough of the building, according to a district announcement.  An overall information sheet will be provided and maps of the building will be available. Everyone should enter through the main entrance. The first day of classes in the district is Sept. 5. 

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Update: Moon Area Middle School to Open on Time

Students in grades five through eight are slated to move into the building this fall. Take a look at some newly released photos of the new building.

Moon Area 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 defaulted on the project. She said the gymnasium, library and auditorium are still undergoing renovations, but classrooms…

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Moon Area School District Welcomes Four New Teachers

New teachers’ contracts were approved and they were welcomed at the Moon Area School Board meeting earlier this week.

Four teachers will begin their official teaching roles at the Moon Area School District this fall, but for three they will be in familiar territory and all of them have prior educational experience.  Ed Elbel is the new Social Studies teacher at Moon Area High School. Elbel graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Secondary Social Studies Education. “I have taught high school history in the Pittsburgh Public Schools for the past year and a half at Pittsburgh University Preparatory School located in Pittsburgh's Hill District,” said Elbel. He has also worked at the Senator John Heinz History Center as a museum educator and as an ice hockey coach for the Montour High School. Barbara Thompson will be the social …

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Moon Area School Board Dispells Rumors of New Middle School

The school district renames middle school to Moon Area Upper Middle School and Moon Area Lower Middle School.

The Moon Area School Board voted to permanently close the Moon Area Middle School, but school officials expressed doubt that the district's new middle school will be completed on time.  "I can say with a high degree of confidence that the building will be completed on time," said Jerry Testa, board member in response to a request from one of the members of the audience who asked for the board to put rumors that the new middle school would not be finished on time, to rest. Both Testa and Superintendent Milanovich said that classrooms are almost completed but said there was a possibility that  the auditorium and axillary gym would not be finished when school opens this fall. "The classrooms are almost 100% completed," Milanovich said with …

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Moon Middle School Students Band Together to Against the 'R-Word'

A group of local middle school students are urging their peers to stop using the word.

It's a cruel word that often rolls off tongues in casual conversation: "Retarded."  Now a group of Moon Area Middle School students say they want to encourage their peers to drop the term from their vocabularies.  The trio of eighth-graders has already banned the word from their own vernacular, referring to it only as the "r-word."  "When someone says something like 'that's so the r-word' or 'my phone isn't working, it's so gay,' that isn't okay," said 14-year-old Natalie Melton. "You do not want to relate something that is dysfunctional back to a living person," she said. Moon students Melton, Patrick Crago and Jackie Minner teamed up with Moon native and recording artist Sarah Marince as well as the national organization Spread the Word …

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Patrick Crago

4:21 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012

Email me at pcrago@mail.com for information.   more ›

New Moon Middle School Course Book Now Available

The course book is available for public review.

The Moon Area School District this week posted its revised coursebook for middle school students.  The updated book reflects curriculum changes put in place to accomodate the district's new middle school, which will include students in grades five, six, seven and eight.  The district will hold a meeting for parents of incoming sixth graders at 4 p.m. today at the middle school to discuss sixth grade math curriculum for the upcoming school year.  Click here for more information or click through the document above.   

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Whiz Kids

Whiz Kids: Film Fest Winners and Seniors Earn Scholarships

A look at the accomplishments of local students

A group of Moon Area High School students won first place earlier this month at the Antelope Film Festival at Avonworth High School. Students Jake Paule, Chad Limbruner and Steven Brown’s A Day in the Life: The Apple User, placed first in the documentary category. Moon Area High School seniors received scholarships from local organizations during the district’s May 3 honors night. Scholarship winners include: Marine Corps Awards: Education Awards: Eighth grade students Abby Keppel, Betsy Naugle, Emily Padgett, and Alayna Trice placed first at the 2012 Fluid Power Challenge sponsored by Wojanis Power Supply.  Students were asked to design and construct a device controlled by pneumatic or hydraulic power that would move a wooden block from …

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Louisa

8:03 am on Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Congratulations to the young filmmakers and all the students receiving scholarships. It is nice to read some good news about Moon Schools once in a while, quite a breath of fresh air!   more ›

Moon Preps for Middle School Curriculum Changes

Moon-area parents earlier this week attended an informational meeting on the changes.

Middle school Principal Melissa Heasley said the most significant adjustment students will undergo at the Moon Area School District's new middle school will be adapting to the school's team-based scheduling system.  "I think that will be the biggest challenge for fifth-graders," Heasley said. "Going from a single class to changing classes and the blocking system."  Fifth-graders, who in the fall will enter the district's renovated middle school, will be grouped into six teams, consisting of 50 students each, for core classes. Two teachers will be assigned to each team, splitting the subjects of language arts and social studies with science and mathematics.  Sixth-graders, meanwhile, are slated to be grouped into four teams of 75 students …

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