News On 6: Beggs Middle School closes after an EF-3 tornado tears through campus

For Beggs Middle School students, the rest of this school year will unfold without returning to their building, after an EF-3 tornado damaged key parts of the campus. The decision by Beggs Public Schools comes as district leaders describe bent structural supports, broken utility lines, and a transportation system left largely unusable. In the days ahead, students will continue attending classes on campus while a relocation plan takes shape.

Beggs Middle School and a campus still marked by unsafe buildings

Beggs Public Schools the Beggs Middle School building sustained significant damage and will not be used for the remainder of the school year. District leaders pointed to the north end of the building as the area hit hardest, where structural supports were bent and considered unsafe.

Damage reached beyond what can be seen from a distance. The tornado pulled a gas line from the ground and damaged electrical systems and fiber network lines serving the middle school building. Crews have been working to restore power and other utilities, even as district leaders stressed that buildings on campus remain unsafe while debris is cleared and damaged infrastructure is repaired.

School officials have asked the public to stay away from school property while cleanup and damage assessments continue. The message reflects the conditions administrators say they are managing now: the campus is still in a recovery phase, and safety concerns continue to shape every decision about access, movement, and where instruction can happen.

Beggs Public Schools details what the March 6 EF-3 tornado damaged

The storm that changed the day-to-day reality for the district struck the community on March 6, when an EF-3 tornado hit Beggs. The National Weather Service Tulsa branch classified the tornado as EF-3, with maximum winds measured between 130 mph and 145 mph. The tornado touched down at about 7: 15 p. m. Friday (7: 15 p. m. ET), killing two people, injuring two others, and destroying at least four homes.

Beggs Public Schools described damage that spread across multiple facilities tied directly to student life and the routines that move a school system each day. Several athletic and transportation facilities were heavily damaged or destroyed. The district’s softball and baseball fields were totaled and will have to be replaced. Officials also said the bus barn and maintenance shop were decimated during the storm.

Transportation was hit especially hard. Nearly the entire fleet of route buses was damaged. School leaders said all but one route bus is inoperable, though the district’s SUVs and activity buses survived the storm. In practical terms, that means the district is confronting two challenges at once: how to keep instruction going for students, and how to rebuild the physical systems that support getting them to and from school and to activities.

The middle school dome also sustained damage, but the district said it is expected to be repaired and reopened. Even that small piece of certainty sits alongside larger unknowns, including what the replacement timeline will look like for athletic fields and how transportation will function with only one operable route bus.

News on 6: Classes continue on campus as relocation details are finalized

District administrators said students will not return to the middle school building this school year, but they will continue attending classes on campus. Beggs Public Schools also said a plan has been developed for relocating middle school students, though details are still being finalized.

The district said the plan will be shared with middle school parents during a scheduled back-to-school meeting once information is confirmed. Until then, the district’s direction is clear but limited to what can be safely promised: instruction will continue, the damaged building will remain out of use, and the district will communicate next steps when it can do so with confidence.

Beggs is also part of a wider pattern of severe weather impacts in Oklahoma. The Beggs tornado is one of at least 7 confirmed tornadoes that touched down in eastern Oklahoma on Friday. Governor Stitt declared a State of Emergency for 8 counties following Thursday and Friday’s severe weather, which claimed at least four lives and caused significant amounts of damage to communities across Oklahoma.

For now, the focus in Beggs remains immediate and local: keeping students learning on campus while the middle school building stays off limits. The next milestone the district has identified is the scheduled meeting with parents, when officials say they will share the relocation plan once details are confirmed—an administrative step that, for families, will shape how the rest of this school year is lived day by day.