Dozens of children excited for the first day of school made their way to Wakefield Elementary School on Tuesday morning. Sharing their first day excitement was Wakefield’s new principal, Dr. Maria Vigil.
“I’m super excited to meet our families and our students…I’ve heard great things about the community. I’m excited to serve in this capacity and support our teachers and students,” she said.
Welcoming a new class of kindergarten students at Wakefield was Stanislaus County Teacher of the Year finalist Edith Barraza.
This is Barraza’s 10th year teaching, but each new academic year is different she said.
“It’s exciting, and at the same time, I’m a little bit nervous. You just get those little butterflies in your stomach, wondering how your year’s gonna go. But most of all, I’m very excited to meet my students and their parents and start all over again.”
Barraza is a veteran at dealing with nervous students — and parents. To help ease the parents’ nerves, she gives them a gift bag, complete with tissues to wipe their tears, a tea bag to “soothe their soul” and a cotton ball to “remind them of their child’s gentle spirit.”
Christina and Charles Wofford didn’t have any trouble dropping off their son, Jaylen, at Ms. Barraza’s classroom on Tuesday morning.
“It was an easy transition because he started school with TK (transitional kindergarten),” said Christina Wofford, who noted Jaylen was not nervous at all about starting school this year. “I think all summer he had to want to come back.”
Jaylen was one of 13,980 students who started school on Tuesday at campuses throughout the Turlock Unified School District. The district also welcomed 48 new teachers this academic year.
Students once again are able to take advantage of free breakfast and lunch at all TUSD campuses.
“We continue to offer Real Fresh meals to our students free of charge. Students are responding positively to our continued focus on quality and service as we saw a 10.5% increase in breakfast participation and a 2.5% increase in lunch participation last year compared to the 2023/24 school year,” said Marie Russell, director of Communications, Family Engagement and Outreach.
The district launched new product called Stop Finder to enhance communications and information sharing directly with families and the transportation department.
TUSD also recently received guidance from the California Department of Education on a Supreme Court ruling last term, Mahmoud vs. Taylor. This case established the rights of parents to be provided notice and the availability to opt out of educational materials/lessons that may conflict with their religious beliefs. District administration has been working with principals and staff to implement a process for opting out at the site level, according to Russell.
