On Monday, August 26, the Pampa Independent School District held their last meeting of August first shining a light of excellence on the committee who planned and organized the Back to School Bash on August 15, followed by an executive session.
The community-wide event was a major success that provided hundreds of students with basic back to school supplies and immunizations, getting them ready for a brand new school year.
After returning from an executive session, the board went through the consent agenda that included the consideration and action to approve the July 29th board minutes, the approval of the monthly financial reports, the approval of the 2024-2025 Student Health Advisory Committee members, the approval of the TASB Policy Update 123, the approval of renewal of wireless internet services, the approval of Microsoft Office and Windows licenses, and the consideration and action to sell delinquent tax property; all were approved.
Next was the action item to approve an order authorizing the issuance and sale of PISD Unlimited Tax School Building Bonds, Series 2024, in the approximate aggregate principal amount of $72,000,000 levying a tax and providing for the security and payment, authorizing the execution and delivery of a paying agent/registrar agreement and a bond purchase agreement and approving the official statement and enacting other provisions relating to the subject and purpose of the order; all were approved.
Next was the consideration and action to approve a resolution to set the 2024 property tax rate of $1.2565, a 2% increase; it was approved.
Next item was the annual review of the Pampa ISD investment policy and the action to approve the investment strategies; it was approved with no changes made to the existing strategy.
Next was the discussion and review of Pampa ISD Personal and Casualty Insurance.
Next was the consideration and action on Title Sponsorship and Signage Agreements as well as the consideration and action on Diamond and Platinum Level Sponsorship and Advertising Agreements for the new scoreboard; both were approved.
Next on the agenda was the possible action regarding the Pampa ISD logo. There were more than 100 artists that submitted their ideas for a new logo, some were of a classic harvester depiction and others were of a cartoon-style to suit the elementary schools.
The discussion was to decide whether the board wanted to go with just one logo for all schools or to adopt both a classic and cartoon style. The board had mixed feelings about what would best represent Pampa across all campuses.
Both President Richard Qualls and Treasurer Denise Intemann liked the idea of having both logos, but Dr. Emily Arrington and Luis Nava wasn’t too fond of the idea considering both logos featured a Harvester that were completely different from one another.
“I think it would be confusing to have two logos,” Dr. Arrington said. “The whole reason why I think this started is because we wanted an official logo that stood for Pampa that started in 1903 that can go through the years, but cartoons can come and go. The traditional guy looks nothing like the cartoon version, so who is Harvey?”
“I agree with Emily. We wanted something a little more modern and this one is definitely it,” Mr. Nava said. “I think they did a great job. It’s rugged and to bring in more different styles of mascots, my opinion is to just start with this. If there’s a need for another one, then we’ll look at the cartoon one. But we’ve never really had an official Harvey mascot, not like this one. To keep things from getting confused, I think one official logo is the best way to go.”
The rest of the board echoed the same sentiment and decided that for now, one logo would be better than having two and chose an image to use than can be adjusted to suit the representation of Pampa.
Next on the agenda was to approve a contract with GermBlast for disinfection of facilities which would allow the company to come in throughout the school year to deep clean and disinfect the campuses instead of requesting their services only when needed, saving the Administration money as well as keeping students and staff safe.
A discussion was held regarding the delayed progress of the new scoreboard when underground lines were damaged affecting the lights on the visitors side of the field during the installation and who was at fault for the incident.
The opinion of the Board was that the more entities that are involved with a project, the more likely something is going to go wrong and no singular party would admit fault, but as of right now, Pampa ISD is responsible for the cost of damages.
The last items on the agenda were the facilities update report, the PISD student discipline update and the enrollment report, followed by employment of professional employees and the consideration and action to approve addendum to Superintendent’s employment contract; all were discussed and approved.
