The Pampa ISD Board of Trustees held a groundbreaking ceremony at the high school to mark the beginning of the new construction the school will be undergoing over the next few years, adding on a brand new Fine Arts and CTE wing to provide students a bigger and better space to fully engage in these beloved and crucial programs.
“We started this process about three years ago,” Superintendent Hugh Piatt said. “It was an adventure just to get to this point. Strategic planning took almost a year and at the end of it, we knew we needed to do something, and after touring the old facilities and looking around, it was definitely a unanimous decision that we needed a new CTE facility.”
“Going out for the bond for this took quite a few courageous decisions over the last few years when the last one in 2015 had failed. So going out for one that wasn’t just a little one, $130 million bond, knowing we couldn’t do all of it upfront and doing the $70 million build that includes the Travis Elementary addition as well. There are a lot of exciting things to come, but it wouldn’t have happened without the Board making a courageous decision and then getting the community to vote. Luis and I had gotten the results from the courthouse and brought them to the central office building and when we opened the envelope not knowing what to expect, it was pretty humbling to be able to say that the community wanted this.”
“Finally after two years and a month, we are to the point where we can break ground and they’re starting tomorrow. The build will be in this facility and hopefully no later than, if all goes well, by August of ‘27, we will have a new CTE and Fine Arts building at the high school. And then also at the same time, we will be able to break ground at Travis before too long.”
“These are exciting times! Thank you guys for making it happen. It’s going to be a lot of work, but we have a great team. We chose Richard, our architect, before this project even became a reality and we knew we had the right guy. We went through construction firms and had interviews, but Page & Associates is who we knew we needed to do this with. They’ve been nothing but a joy so far, so we are super excited about our team and excited for what is in store. Thank you guys for being a part of it and leading it, and thank you Board for giving us the opportunity to make it happen. It’s going to be outstanding for our community and for our kids to have something that is up-to-date and modern.”
