The Pampa Independent School District Board of Trustees followed suit to the City of Pampa on Monday evening, approving the addition of two School Resource Officers.
“We will have three school resource officers as opposed to just one,” Piatt said. “We decided on 60-40 (PISD-City). I think we will move to 75-25 in years to come. We’ve just got to phase it in. Governor Abbott and the Education Commissioner both said there will be money added to safety/security from the legislative session.”
The Board also approved portions of the Pampa ISD dress code.
“We approved portions of it,” Piatt said. “The things that will change are we are going to allow shorts, dresses and skirts that come to the fingertip rather than the knee. We will also allow for holes and tears in jeans at fingertip length.”
At the elementary level, students cannot where athletic slides and must wear shorts under dresses.
There was public hearing over the intention of PISD to consider designating the Pampa IP Pipeline Wind Reinvestment Zone.
“We had to establish a reinvestment zone for the wind farm, IP Project, out on the northeast side of town,” Piatt said. “We did the Proman one at the last board meeting, then it was time to do this one. The County could have done it but that process takes longer.”
The reinvestment zone doesn’t tie Pampa ISD to anything at the time, but if the Comptroller’s Office and the Board approves it later, it allows IP Pipeline to have a different tax rate for 10 years. The Board later approved an action item related to the public hearing.
“Right now this is just the zone and where the project will be if it makes and we hope it does,” Piatt said.
The Board also discussed STAAR and End of Course Testing results.
“We had a Covid year still trying to catch up and did many interventions to help kids,” Piatt said. “We had great gains during that time for reading. Sixty-two percent of the areas we test in showed growth. The math scores are still lagging behind some from pre-Covid, but we made gains last year. We’re still not where we want to be yet, but we are making gains.”
Consent agenda
• Board Meeting Minutes: June 27, 2022
• Quarterly investment reports
• Monthly financial reports
• Approve 2022-2023 appraisers and appraisal calendar
• Contract with Engage2Learn for professional development - Teacher Coaching
• Purchase of VoIP Communication System and Telecommunication Voice System
• Consulting contract for leadership, coaching, and support for Pre-K/Head Start, and Kindergarten
Discussion/Action items
• Discussion of Pampa ISD 2022-2023 parent/student handbook and Pampa ISD employee handbook. The majority of the items were related to safety and security for employees. There will be more enforcement for visitors on campus. “They all must report to the front office to get a badge,” Piatt said. “They cannot be on school property without a badge.”
• Pampa ISD Gifted and Talented (GT) Handbook
• Interlocal contract pursuant to Texas Government Code Chapter 791 and Texas Education Code 44.031(a)(4) for the provision of Auto, Liability, Property/Casualty, Workers Compensation and other related District coverages. This move will go from PCAT (Property Casualty Alliance of Texas) to TASB (Texas Association of School Boards) and save the District $75,000.
• First Reading TASB Policy Update 119
• Endorsement of an individual as Region 16 representative on the TASB Board of Directors. The Board voted for Eddie Fuentes of Bushland.
