New SHS gym, auditorium gets name, nears completion

Shawnee Board of Education members chose an official name this week for the school district’s new gymnasium and auditorium, located on the Shawnee High School campus on North Kennedy Street.
By unanimous decision, board members voted to call the facility the Shawnee High School Performing Arts and Athletic Center. This week, the board took a walk-through tour of the facility, which is still under construction.
“The facility is about 94 percent complete, but it’s still a work in progress,” said Marilyn Bradford, superintendent of Shawnee Public Schools. “I think we’re going to get a nice facility once we get it finished.”
An official with Crossland Construction Company told board members during the tour that the company’s goal is to have everything but the auditorium completed by Aug. 13, the district’s first day of classes. An event of international proportions is causing a delay in the arrival of the auditorium’s seating.
“The seating will not be delivered until mid- or late September due to the manufacturer’s plant in China being shut down for the Olympics,” Bradford said.
Bradford said China’s government closed the plant for the games.
A large lobby joins the 1,500-seat gymnasium and 750-seat auditorium.
The facility is just east of the high school building on the high school campus, and west across the parking lot from Jim Thorpe Stadium.
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Jason Smith may be reached at 214-3932 or william.smith@news-star.com.