GSRA’s Balch Springs Middle School, which opened for the Fall semester of 2012, has been recognized for both Process of Planning and Sustainability by the Texas Association of School Administrators and Texas Association of School Boards in their 2013 Exhibit of School Architecture that takes place at their annual convention. The various criteria by which schools are judged includes excellence in sustainability, value, design, innovation, educational appropriateness and process of planning.
The future success of Balch Springs relies on the education of its children. The 196,000 s.f., 3-story Balch Springs Middle School was built to serve 1,250 children in grades six through eight living in the southwest portion of the city. This environmentally sustainable and technologically advanced school will give these children every opportunity for educational success and prepare them to become leaders within the community they will one day serve.
In addition to core classroom components, the new building also includes visual arts classrooms and performing arts facilities (with band, orchestra, drama classrooms and rehearsal rooms); 450-seat auditorium; primary and secondary gymnasiums with locker and shower facilities; full-service media center and library; cafeteria; family and consumer science classrooms; career education and investigation classrooms; as well as instructional technology and technology education classrooms. The facility also includes a 4,500 s.f. Youth and Family Center, operated in conjunction with Parkland Health System.
