During the second half of the 2002-2003 school year, the students and faculty at Valdosta Middle School moved from an old to new school building. The events leading to, during, and after the mid-year transfer presented a rare opportunity to observe the culture of a school in transition. If the themes that emerge provide insight into positive and negative aspects of the transitional process, a more appropriate protocol for the planning of, construction of, and transfer to new educational facilities could be established. The purpose of this study was to uncover the perceptions of students, teachers, and administrators who participated in the move from a fifty-year-old school to a new building. An ethnographic study was conducted at Valdosta Middle School (VMS) during the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 school years using researcher fieldnotes and journal reflections, student, teacher, and administrator focus group interviews, and an individual administrator interview. Issues, themes, and foci emerged as the researchers understanding of participant perceptions increased. The end product of the research is a reconstructed story of the transition from an old to new building as told by those who experienced the mid-year move. There were many findings associated with the study. Firstly, there exists at VMS a power struggle between students and faculty in which adult desires for control and order are in opposition to student needs for freedom and spontaneity. Secondly, all participants identified increased general tension, student/faculty conflicts, and student-initiated resistance following the transition. Finally, the move to the new building brought significant changes in school culture, instruction, achievement, and curriculum.