Performing Arts Center Moving Closer to Completion
PAC TOUR: Members of the Broken Arrow School board, administrators and teachers took a tour of the nearly complete Performing Arts Center, Houston and Main St., on Oct. 27.
The Broken Arrow Public Schools Performing Arts Center/Education Service Center project is moving closer to completion. The 86,200 square foot facility made possible by successful passage of the 2004 and 2006 Broken Arrow School Bond Elections is expected for completion the end of December.
Architect Don Beck, whose firm designed the new PAC/ESC, led a tour of school board members and various school administrators and teachers through the inside of the PAC/ESC as part of a Special Board of Education meeting held Oct. 27.
Beck says it’s more than a high school auditorium; it has a much higher standard than that.
Board member Shari Wilkins was impressed with the progress and potential of the PAC that when completed, will seat 1,500 for performances.
She says BAPS is fortunate to have a facility that has state of the art features, which is being compared with colleges and universities.
Broken Arrow Public Schools Executive Director of Construction Services, Jim Moburg says construction manager Flintco has had two crews working virtually around the clock on the project. He expects the finishing touches in the next 60 days will deliver another “wow” to those who are watching the grand project come to fruition.
Moburg also praised the efforts of Beck and the Beck Design team whose two-plus-years of planning and dedication of the project has produced an extremely high quality performance hall.
Board members echoed Moburg’s feelings saying that the performance hall is amazing even full of scaffolding and that the glass exterior is very impressive.
Interim Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Gary Gerber says various departments who are housed in the current Education Service Center should begin moving into the new facility beginning sometime in January.
He and other members of the school administration team are in the preliminary stages of studying staffing needs for the new PAC. Initial plans call for the Senior High drama department’s annual spring production in April to be the first performance held in the new PAC.
Updated 11-25-2008
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