WE are BACK in SCHOOL and we could not be more excited! Who knew that we would be so thankful for getting to return to our classrooms and be together as a community to begin our 20-21 school year. I think we may have all taken many things for granted before COVID-19 entered our lives…..a mistake hopefully we may never make again!
The beginning of school is always an exciting time for most of us and as I reflect on the past 5 months, I am humbled and so grateful for the many parents, community members, businesses, and churches who have supported our staff and teachers so that we could start school strong and stay safe! Regardless of your opinions and beliefs about what our country has been going through over the past 5 months, it is clear that our Pampa community cares about our students and staff and they want only the best for them! That makes me #PampaProud!
Our theme this year is #TogetherWeCan! This mantra has truly been personified in the many hours and days spent by our teachers, nurses, para professionals, custodians, bus drivers, maintenance crew, principals, and administrators as we came TOGETHER to build plans, prepare buildings, organize materials, supplies, and learn an entirely new way of designing and delivering instruction! I want to take this opportunity to THANK the PISD staff for their incredibly important work!
We have around 3,475 students-- who may be coming to school for face to face learning or are learning from home through our Pampa Academic Virtual Experience (PAVE) program. At the time of this article, about 80% of those students are coming to school everyday; while around 20 percent are still choosing to learn at home from our amazing teachers. We have had a great start to the school year and things are settling into a routine. We still have some kinks to work out such as ensuring that our at-home learners are engaging in learning EVERYDAY and that our new state attendance procedures are completed as accurately and efficiently as possible. We are of course dealing with a few covid cases and quarantining protocols, however, so far, we have had very few issues with sickness. Let’s continue to pray that this remains small and is resolved soon for our students, staff, and the entire world.
Even though we have only been in school for a few weeks, we have seen students and adults both exhibit the characteristics of our Profile of a Graduate/Learner! The Mission of the Pampa ISD is to produce LEARNERS who are compassionate, competent, confident, and future-ready! Who knew this was going to be what our future would look like just 5 months ago? These characteristics are critical for both the adults on our staff and the students in our classrooms to learn and practice every day so that we may continue to be Future-Ready! Our students are also engaging in extra-curricular activities just like they were before Covid-19. Yes, things look just a little different; but we are back to doing all the things we loved to do and things are going very well considering all of the changes and requirements that have come along with opening our classrooms this year.
We would be remiss if we didn’t also take this opportunity to THANK YOU—the community, the parents and other people who are so important to the students we serve.
Thank YOU all for a wonderful start to a new school year. As always, we want to hear from you. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at pampaisdinfo@pampaisd.net if you have questions, concerns, or ideas!
