The board met for a regular meeting, following up the previous weeks special meeting to vote on the hiring of a bond consultant for the possibility of the ISD going out for a bond to start construction on upgrades for the grade schools and high school.
“We haven’t said yes or no on going after the bond,” Superintendent, Hugh Piatt said. “We did hire a very well recommended consultant in the case the board votes yes for the bond application.”
The bond will provide the school district with the funding to make needed upgrades to the nearly 70 year old elementary schools, as well as overdue upgrades to the high school, written about in a previous Pampa News article. The board also recognized all students in the PHS All-Region Band, Academic All-State football and volleyball teams as well as the trainers.
“We wanted to make sure and give all those students the recognition they’ve earned,” Piatt said. “We have so many amazingly talented students within our district that we have such pride in getting to honor them.”
The board also received a report on the state of academic levels within the schools from Abby Hancock, at this point in the year the schools are seeing growth and gains in scores since Covid where they dropped due to the climate of the world.
“There wasn’t anything really bad within the report, it was just as expected when you have something like Covid happen,” Piatt said. “We are seeing growth and those numbers are coming back up over time with the students getting readjusted to school.”
An additional action item that was proposed on the list was the hiring of a moving company to come in during the summer and completely move the schools inventories into the new grade level school system. Rather than have teachers move everything, the company hired will do the heavy lifting for the teachers.
“When you have four elementary schools with roughly 80 class rooms each, there’s a lot to be moved,” Piatt said. “So we didn’t want to make it any more complicated for those teachers that are already adjusting to the new way of things at the start of next school year. The moving company is going to come in and load everything and take it where it belongs and all the teachers will have to do, is unpack and put things into their respective rooms.”
The proposal of a moving company will be voted on later, the district will also vote on a cleaning company coming in and deep cleaning the schools and floors to prepare for the new changes, starting fresh with a clean campus for the new school system. The board also will refurbish the tennis courts at the high school.
“With anything, over time, there’s shifts in the foundation. A tennis court isn’t supposed to shift or have cracks,” Piatt said. “Right now there’s cracks in the courts and with the cold weather it gets deeper and cracks further, which effects the durability of the courts for matches. So we’re going to have new a foundation laid ahead of next years school year.”
The new grade level schools will change the lay out on schools, rather than being neighborhood schools, Wilson Elementary will become the home of Bright Beginnings (The ISDs daycare), head start and pre-k. Austin Elementary will house kindergarten and first grade, Lamar Elementary will be second and third grades and Travis Elementary will be the home of fourth and fifth grade.
“There will be upgrades to the parking lots, similar to the upgrade just done at Austin to better flow the traffic.” Piatt said. “We’ll move portables to Travis to help house some of the students if we do go out for a bond then we will start with upgrades to Travis.”
In addition to upgrades, the possibility of athletics and arts could be offered to Travis now that is houses fourth and fifth.
“It’s a possibility, and an exciting one to me,” Piatt said. “It’s easier now to offer those things to the older elementary students now that they are housed in one place. So it would be more possible for the district to offer band and choir or lower level athletics to the students, allowing them to find out if that’s something they want to pursue once they hit junior high, rather than getting to junior high and not really knowing what they want to do.”
The schools across all levels will become Harvesters, retiring the elementary mascots like the Lions or the Bobcats, keeping the district more uniformed.
The school board will meet again within the coming weeks to vote on going out for the bond as proposed.
pampanewseditor@gmail.com
The board meet for a regular meeting, following up the previous weeks special meeting to vote on the hiring of a bond consultant for the possibility of the ISD going out for a bond to start construction on upgrades for the grade schools and high school.
“We haven’t said yes or no on going after the bond,” Superintendent, Hugh Piatt said. “We did hire a very will recommend consultant in the case the board votes yes for the bond application.”
The bond will provide the school district with the funding to make needed upgrades to the nearly 70 year old elementary schools, as well as over due upgrades to the high school, written about in a previous Pampa News article. The board also recognized all students in the PHS All-Region Band, Academic All-State football and volleyball teams as well as the trainers.
“We wanted to make sure and give all those students the recognition they’ve earned,” Piatt said. “We have so many amazingly talented students within our district that we have such pride in getting to honor them.”
The board also received a report on the state of academic levels within the schools from Abby Hancock, at this point in the year the schools are seeing growth and gains in scores since Covid where they dropped due to the climate of the world.
“There wasn’t anything really bad within the report, it was just as expected when you have something like Covid happen,” Piatt said. “We are seeing growth and those numbers coming back up over time with the students getting readjusted to school.”
An additional action item that was proposed on the list was the hiring of a moving company to come in during the summer and completely move the schools inventories into the new grade level school system. Rather than have teachers move everything, the company hired will do the heavy lifting for the teachers.
“When you have four elementary schools with roughly 80 class rooms each, there’s a lot to be moved,” Piatt said. “So we didn’t want to make it any more complicated for those teachers that are already adjusting to the new way of things at the start at next school year. The moving company is going to come in and load everything and take it where it belongs and all the teachers will have to do is unpack and put things into their respective rooms.”
The proposal of a moving company will be voted on later, the district will also vote on a cleaning company coming in and deep cleaning the schools and floors to prepare for the new changes, starting fresh with a clean campus for the new school system. The board also will refurbish the tennis courts at the high school.
“With anything, over time, there’s shifts in the foundation. A tennis court isn’t supposed to shift or have cracks,” Piatt said. “Right now there’s cracks in the courts and with the cold weather it gets deeper and cracks further which effects the durability of the courts for matches. So we’re going to have new foundation laid ahead of next years school year.”
The new grade level schools will change the lay out on schools, rather than being neighborhood schools, Wilson Elementary will become the home of Bright Beginnings (The ISDs daycare), head start and pre-k. Austin Elementary will house kindergarten and first grade, Lamar Elementary will be second and third grades and Travis Elementary will the home of fourth and fifth grade.
“There will be upgrades to the parking lots, similar to upgrade just done at Austin to better flow the traffic.” Piatt said. “We’ll move portables to Travis to help house some of the students if we do go out for a bond and start with upgrades to Travis.”
In addition to upgrades, the possibility of athletics and arts could be offered to Travis now that is houses fourth and fifth.
“It’s a possibility, and an exciting one to me,” Piatt said. “It’s easier now to offer those things to the older elementary students now that they are housed in one place. So it would be more possible for the district to offer band and choir or lower level athletics to the students, allow them to find out if that’s something they want to pursue once they hit junior high, rather than getting to junior high and not really knowing what they want to do.”
The schools across all levels will become Harvesters, retiring the elementary mascots like the Lions or the Bobcats, keeping the district more uniformed.
The school board will meet again within the coming weeks to vote on going out for the bond as proposed.
By
Caleb
Dorn
pampanewseditor@gmail.com
The board meet for a regular meeting, following up the previous weeks special meeting to vote on the hiring of a bond consultant for the possibility of the ISD going out for a bond to start construction on upgrades for the grade schools and high school.
“We haven’t said yes or no on going after the bond,” Superintendent, Hugh Piatt said. “We did hire a very will recommend consultant in the case the board votes yes for the bond application.”
The bond will provide the school district with the funding to make needed upgrades to the nearly 70 year old elementary schools, as well as over due upgrades to the high school, written about in a previous Pampa News article. The board also recognized all students in the PHS All-Region Band, Academic All-State football and volleyball teams as well as the trainers.
“We wanted to make sure and give all those students the recognition they’ve earned,” Piatt said. “We have so many amazingly talented students within our district that we have such pride in getting to honor them.”
The board also received a report on the state of academic levels within the schools from Abby Hancock, at this point in the year the schools are seeing growth and gains in scores since Covid where they dropped due to the climate of the world.
“There wasn’t anything really bad within the report, it was just as expected when you have something like Covid happen,” Piatt said. “We are seeing growth and those numbers coming back up over time with the students getting readjusted to school.”
An additional action item that was proposed on the list was the hiring of a moving company to come in during the summer and completely move the schools inventories into the new grade level school system. Rather than have teachers move everything, the company hired will do the heavy lifting for the teachers.
“When you have four elementary schools with roughly 80 class rooms each, there’s a lot to be moved,” Piatt said. “So we didn’t want to make it any more complicated for those teachers that are already adjusting to the new way of things at the start at next school year. The moving company is going to come in and load everything and take it where it belongs and all the teachers will have to do is unpack and put things into their respective rooms.”
The proposal of a moving company will be voted on later, the district will also vote on a cleaning company coming in and deep cleaning the schools and floors to prepare for the new changes, starting fresh with a clean campus for the new school system. The board also will refurbish the tennis courts at the high school.
“With anything, over time, there’s shifts in the foundation. A tennis court isn’t supposed to shift or have cracks,” Piatt said. “Right now there’s cracks in the courts and with the cold weather it gets deeper and cracks further which effects the durability of the courts for matches. So we’re going to have new foundation laid ahead of next years school year.”
The new grade level schools will change the lay out on schools, rather than being neighborhood schools, Wilson Elementary will become the home of Bright Beginnings (The ISDs daycare), head start and pre-k. Austin Elementary will house kindergarten and first grade, Lamar Elementary will be second and third grades and Travis Elementary will the home of fourth and fifth grade.
“There will be upgrades to the parking lots, similar to upgrade just done at Austin to better flow the traffic.” Piatt said. “We’ll move portables to Travis to help house some of the students if we do go out for a bond and start with upgrades to Travis.”
In addition to upgrades, the possibility of athletics and arts could be offered to Travis now that is houses fourth and fifth.
“It’s a possibility, and an exciting one to me,” Piatt said. “It’s easier now to offer those things to the older elementary students now that they are housed in one place. So it would be more possible for the district to offer band and choir or lower level athletics to the students, allow them to find out if that’s something they want to pursue once they hit junior high, rather than getting to junior high and not really knowing what they want to do.”
The schools across all levels will become Harvesters, retiring the elementary mascots like the Lions or the Bobcats, keeping the district more uniformed.
The school board will meet again within the coming weeks to vote on going out for the bond as proposed.
