In mid-January, the school board announced it would be re-opening the middle school building that has sat vacant this school year and re-purposing it for 3rd through 6th graders. On Friday, Gary Puhl, who will serve as the building’s principal, announced its new name. Pending approval from the State of Michigan Department of Education, the former middle school building will be renamed Riverside Intermediate School.

Puhl explained the decision process. “A poll, consisting of all 3rd – 6th grade teachers, put in ideas for a new name for the old middle school building. Of those names, three of the names were chosen at random. The three names in the final running were: Riverside Intermediate School, Deer Run Intermediate School, and Edgewater Intermediate School.”

Current 2nd through 5th graders voted then on the names. “The vote was close,” Puhl stated, “but overall Riverside Intermediate School came ahead with 42% of the vote, Deer Run not too far behind at 35%, and finally Edgewater in third at 23%.”

The Manchester Middle School building is not the only school building to recently change names; last year when the decision was made to move the 7th and 8th grades into the High School building for this school year, the Manchester High School was renamed Manchester Middle and High School. The school board has not yet discussed signage changes for either building.