BEGGS, Okla. — Almost five months since an EF-3 tornado ravaged Beggs, the school district is preparing for a school year that will look a bit different. Middle schoolers will spend their school year in portable classrooms.
Begg's middle school taking the brunt of the damage across the district. Principal Brandon Bookout said they've been trying to get things repaired, but they need more time before it's safe for students to be back in their regular classrooms.
WATCH: Beggs to use portable classrooms at middle school as tornado repairs continue:
"It was about a month ago that we realized we were going to be nowhere close to getting into our main building," said Bookout. "We had to get those portables so that we would have functioning classrooms."
So, through insurance, the district was able to order six portable classrooms. There's three portable trailors, with two classrooms in each.
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One building at Beggs Middle School will NOT be used for the rest of the year
Bookout said they are all temperature controlled and just arrived at the end of July. He expects his teachers to get into their classrooms with a little less than two weeks to get set up before their students return for the first day on Aug. 13.
As far as how the students will react to the change, Bookout said he thinks his kids will handle the new classrooms without an issue.
“They’re actually in kind of a recess area that we would use in years past, so they’re familiar with the area and transitioning back and forth from that area," he said. "The kids are used to being on those covered walk ways, going to the high school and back to the middle school, and everything so it’s not going to be as big of an adjustment for them as it’s going to be for our teachers in monitoring new spaces.”
2 News asked if Bookout's heard any concerns from families, ahead of the school year, which is going to look different for the nearly 250 middle schoolers.
"What I'd like to say to parents is we're going to be prepared," the middle school principal said. "They're eager to get in their portable classrooms and get them set up to where kids don't see a difference."
Of the six available portable rooms, five will serve as classroom space with the sixth being a catchall or storage room. Bookout said that is something his team is lacking, being out of their main building.
As for when the middle school building and other damage around the district will be taken care of, Bookout said they are still waiting on insurance to get repairs moving.
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