ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – With only days before the new school year, two schools in Orange County may not be ready for the first day of classes on Monday.
News 6 has learned Orange County Public Schools is reviewing contingency plans due to construction delays at Howard Middle School and Luminary Middle School.
The campus of Howard Middle is in the middle of a $36 million renovation project, while Luminary Middle is a new school being built in Lake Nona that is scheduled to open to students on Monday.
However, both schools have faced construction delays over the summer and, as of Wednesday, have not yet received their certificate of occupancy.
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Ken Churchill is a parent of an eighth grader at Howard Middle and said the school made changes to its “Meet the Teacher” event because of the construction issues.
“Originally it was supposed to be ‘Meet the Teacher’ for all grade levels tomorrow and then they dialed that back,” Churchill said. “It’s a little bit disappointing because the kids want that comfort level of making sure they know their way around the school with all the construction going on and getting to meet their teachers.”
Orange County Public Schools released the following statement addressing the concern:
“Due to conditions associated with renovations on a 100-year-old school and contractor performance issues, we are slightly behind where we were scheduled for this phase of the project at Howard Middle School. Fortunately, we are only waiting on inspections to be finished and the Certificate of Occupancy to be finalized. The district is continuing to monitor the construction progress at both schools as well as reviewing all contingency options.”
- Orange County Public Schools
The district did not elaborate on what contingency options would look like at each school, not did it give a timetable on when a decision would be made.
This story will be updated as News 6 receives more information.
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