ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Two Orange County middle schools feared to be empty on the first day of classes amid construction delays have clinched the necessary certification to welcome students back on time.
Howard Middle and Luminary Middle had up to this point not received certification of occupancy, what proved to be a leering issue leading up to the start of classes looming on Monday, Aug. 12. The Howard Middle campus is in the middle of a $36 million renovation project while Luminary Middle is a new school built in Lake Nona.
Orange County Public Schools has since said in a statement that both schools received occupancy Sunday morning, allowing all 213 district schools to open on Monday as originally planned.
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Howard Middle Principal Walton McHale and Luminary Middle President Jeffrey Aldridge left the following messages for parents on Sunday, with Aldridge further stating that Luminary would host families Sunday night to tour the school from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.:
Good morning, Howard Middle School families! This is Dr. McHale with an exciting follow up to last night’s great news. We have received the necessary approvals for faculty and staff to return to campus today to prepare for our students to return to school tomorrow, Monday, Aug. 12. Again, I want to thank you all for your patience. I truly appreciate the commitment of our teachers, support staff and the administrative team for their hard work and flexibility over the last week. I will follow up later today with any additional information you will need for the first day of school. We are very excited to welcome our students back to campus tomorrow. Thank you so much for your continued support and have a really terrific day.
Howard Middle School Principal Walton McHale
Good morning, Luminary School families. This is Principal Jeff Aldridge with a follow up to the exciting news last evening. We have received the necessary approvals for faculty and staff to return to campus today, to prepare for our students to return to school tomorrow, Monday, Aug. 12. Again, I want to thank you so much for your patience. I truly appreciate the commitment of our teachers, support staff and administrative team for their hard work and flexibility over the last week. I will follow up later today with any additional information you will need for the first day of school. We will host families tonight, between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. to tour the campus. While not all of our teachers will be able to attend, many will be there. Student schedules are available in Skyward and we will have (an) extremely limited ability to pull schedules this evening. All students will receive a paper schedule on Monday. Overflow parking for tonight will be available along Pearson Avenue and the new home construction area right behind the school. We are very excited to welcome our students to campus tonight and tomorrow. Thank you so much for your continued support.
Luminary Middle School President Jeffrey Aldridge
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