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Hey, moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas, you'll be happy to know that the first day of classes for McKeesport Area schools is less than four weeks away ... Friday, Aug. 28, to be exact.

Students at Serra Catholic High School return the same day, although new and transfer students must report one day earlier --- Thursday, Aug. 27.

If your little ones go to Wilson Christian Academy in West Mifflin, their summer screeches to a halt even sooner --- Aug. 18.

Other first days of school are:

• Wednesday, Aug. 26: Norwin


• Thursday, Aug. 27: St. Joseph's Regional Catholic, Port Vue


• Monday, Aug. 31: West Mifflin Area, Clairton City Schools and Elizabeth-Forward


• Tuesday, Sept. 1: Duquesne Elementary School, Duquesne


• Tuesday, Sept. 8: East Allegheny and South Allegheny (barring a you-know-what in the latter district)

No first days have been set yet for Duquesne Village Institute of Graffiti Art in West Mifflin; Glassport Montessori School for Sullenness; the Noble J. Dick Bus Driving School in Large; or the St. Regis School for the Boisterous in Wall.

. . .

The above postcard depicts McKeesport Area High School shortly after its completion in 1961, and on a extremely sunny day.

Says the back, "Multi-million dollar campus type school consisting of six specialized buildings: Auditorium-administration, business education, physical education-health, homemaking-cafeteria, science and classroom-library buildings. The school, erected 1960-1961, accommodates 2,000 students and has an auditorium with 1,222 upholstered seats."

We learn more from a Jan. 1961 article in The Charette, the journal of the Pittsburgh Architectural Club.

According to the magazine, McKeesport Senior High School, which replaced the old "Tech High" on Cornell Avenue, was designed by Celli-Flynn Architects. Now located in Pittsburgh, Celli-Flynn was then based on Shaw Avenue in McKeesport and specialized in academic and public-use buildings.

. . .

The Charette calls the school "a uniquely designed and efficiently planned campus-type high school for cold weather country" having "all the advantages and none of the disadvantages of campus-type schools in this climate; the only extra cost involves four 40-foot connecting corridors."

With an original capacity of 1,500 students, the 172,200-square-foot complex cost almost $3.2 million. That's about $23 million in today's money.

For comparison, each of the new elementary schools currently proposed by McKeesport Area School Board are estimated to cost somewhere between $12 million and $18 million, and modern schools require millions of dollars in telecommunications cables, electrical wiring and handicapped-accessible improvements that weren't even on the drawing board in 1960.

. . .

"Among the most interesting construction features is the wide use of prefabricated glass-block curtain wall --- the largest school use to date," Charette reports. "This system is made up of two-inch-thick hollow glass tile which combines high insulation value with daylight control qualities that eliminate the necessity for shading devices. Factory-fabricated ... on-the-job installation of the system is both fast and inexpensive."

Other features included "terrazzo floors in all corridors and lobbies" and "glazed structural face tile" on the walls of corridors and stairs (which are great for making noises echo whenever students change classes).

So if you're a teacher or a student at MAHS, take time this fall to check out some of the architectural details. They may seem mundane, but they were big news and something to be proud of a half-century ago.

And if you're a student at Wilson Christian Academy, you better get in all the trouble you can for the next two weeks. The clock is ticking.