Campus attendance getting close to former levels at PG

TEXARKANA., Texas — Given what happened nearly a year ago this month, Pleasant Grove Independent School District Superintendent Chad Pirtle expressed thankfulness for student attendance on campus that’s getting close to normal.

“When you look at where we were March 17, 2020, the district had to shutdown, now over the last year, we stayed on top of COVID-19,” Pirtle told the district’s Board of Trustees during their monthly meeting Thursday.

With each of the district’s four campuses now reporting on-campus attendance ranging in percentage from the mid to the high 90s, Pirtle said district is continuing to come through COVID19.

“We are continuing to wear masks and so far, it’s been a great semester” he said. ” We’ve got 10 weeks left to go and we are so thankful of that — and we’ve had a vaccination clinic here for our employees.”

Beside COVID-19, Pirtle added that the district also managed to come through the week-long winter storm blast, with only minimal water pipe damage.

“We had a pipe burst at the high school concession stand as well as one at our ball field, but overall, we came through it very blessed,” he said.

In other business, board members approved a contract with the Jarrel, Texas-based Melissa Leach Literacy Consulting firm, which will provide reading and writing advice to teachers from Pre-Kindergarten through the 12th grade.

Board members also approved holding an auction for surplus items the district no longer needs. These items include two maintenance vehicles, a tractor and some middle school weight lifting equipment.

“All of these things don’t have too much value, and we are wanting to create more vacant space,” Pirtle said.