Message From Dr. Larkin

Posted Date: 06/01/2021

Happy July PISD Students, Parents, and Families,

We want to thank you for your ongoing support and encouragement as we continue to work together as a community through these challenging times.  We know you are wondering what school will look like in August and that you are looking for information, details, and specifics on health and safety measures, face-to-face at school learning, remote and online learning, extra-curricular activities, and more.  It is our desire to get you all of this information as soon as possible.  However, the truth is that we are awaiting the details and guidance ourselves from the Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency (TEA).  We have received some initial guidance on attendance and enrollment accounting and procedures, but we are awaiting clarification on most of those new procedures.  We anticipated in-school health and safety guidance and requirements earlier this week; however, due to the rapidly changing conditions in Texas right now, TEA delayed any announcements on final guidance for the fall.  We understand that the TEA is doing the best they can, as are we; but we also know that not knowing is very frustrating for everyone.  We thank you for your patience and for your trust in us as we work to gather the most up to date and accurate information possible!

So, for now, we can tell you what we DO know:

1. It is our desire as a school district to start school on August 19^th as planned with our schools open providing face-to-face instruction and programs to our students. 
2. We know that there will be heightened safety, health, and disinfecting procedures in place when we open school, but we cannot provide the specifics on these details yet.  We will get them to you as soon as possible. 
3. We also know that some of our parents, students, and staff have underlying medical conditions and have major concerns with the risk of exposure to covid-19 and other communicable infections and diseases in the public.  This concern may lead them to need or prefer online/remote learning options.  We are working hard to develop systems and curriculum so these people will have options when school starts.  Again, we don’t have all of the details on these systems-yet.  We are working with our teachers and leaders to design quality learning experiences with full access to all of our students in Pampa ISD. 
4. We plan to release a survey next week to provide our parents an opportunity to share with us their questions, concerns, preferences, and more.  We will use that input and feedback as we design and develop our procedures, protocols, and systems for the 20-21 school year. 

Please stay tuned to our website and social media outlets for the most up-to-date information and links to feedback and input surveys for students, parents, and staff.  Thank you again for your support, encouragement, trust, and mostly for your patience.  We are blessed to be in such a caring, supportive, and genuine community!  We are #PampaProud of our students, staff, parents, and community’s can-do spirit!   #TogetherWeCan get back to school and ensure a safe, healthy, positive, supportive, and successful 2020-2021 school year for everyone. 

We hope you have a blessed and safe July 4^th holiday!

Dr. Tanya Larkin, Superintendent

Published on 07/01/2020