Sharile Abbasi says that being the new Turlock High School principal is his dream job.

Spend two minutes with the 2004 THS graduate and you can see that it’s not just a line.

“People always think that I made the jump or got into it early so I could get to the district office,” said Abbasi, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Stanislaus State. “I have no ambitions of doing that. I have to be attached to a school site. My dream is to walk my daughter across the (graduation) stage in 14 years and retire.”

Until that day comes, Abbasi has big plans for Turlock High. The former Brown Elementary School principal, along with his THS admin team, has been hard at work prepping for the 2026-27 school year, which gets underway Wednesday.

THS administrators began by making personal phone contact with 644 incoming freshmen, welcoming them to the Bulldog family. Communicating with families will be a foundational pillar of Abbasi’s administration.

“It’s one thing to send an email, but it’s something else to pick up the phone and make a call. We came up with the idea of calling and welcoming every one of our incoming freshman families to Turlock High,” said Abbasi, who is one of 24 administrators within the district with new assignments this year. “If the only time you call home is when something goes wrong, that’s how you fracture relationships. But if we call and take the time to get to know you or call because your kid did something great on campus, then when we call when your kid has done something not so great, we have equity; we have a rapport with you, and you’re in a better position to hear us because you know we’re not just looking for the negatives.”

Abbasi and Pitman High principal Janine Arakelian have also laid the foundation for improved collaboration between the administration teams at the city’s two high school campuses.

“We were all together tonight celebrating the new school year,” Arakelian said after Thursday night's mixer at Dust Bowl Brewing Co. “I’ve always wanted us to be partners, friends, and family. We can compete against each other on the field but take care of each other otherwise.”

Abbasi, the son of Assyrian parents, is familiar with the immigrant experience. He and two older brothers grew up watching their parents adjust to a new country and new culture.

“I think the strength we have at Turlock Unified and Turlock High is our diversity,” said Abbasi, the father of three young children, all under the age of 11. “You walk across this campus and you’ll see Caucasian, you’ll see Hispanic, you’ll see Black, you’ll see Middle Eastern students … and they all interact, and they all care about one another. You come to Turlock High, we take you in, and we love you.

“And I’m a product of that.”