Porterville Unified School District kicks off a new year
Parents of kindergartners at Olive Street School strained to peer into the doorway early Thursday morning as school began for their young children.
School began at all Porterville Unified School District campuses and some held special kickoffs like Olive Street Principal Isaac Nunez held and others began a year-long celebration like Monache did which is turning 50 years old this year.
Olive Street students and parents gathered outside before classes began to be welcomed back with music, skits and the introduction of the teaching staff. Then, each grade filed off to their classrooms.
Nunez said he was looking for a big start to the year.
“Our theme this year is to take risk and make it better,” he said of the effort to make children more involved in their education.
“We want to empower and for them to have a choice and voice in their learning,” said the principal after pumping up the student body of 680 students, grades transitional kindergarten through sixth.
“We had a good time he said after things began to quiet down.”
Olive Street is the oldest elementary school site in the district.
Erika Ceballos, a parent of two girls who are attending Olive Street, said they were excited to be back and she was excited to have them back in school. “Yes, I get a break,” she smiled.
Ceballos works with the district’s S Program, an after-school learning program. Also, her two daughters, Destinee, fifth, and Alexia Anderson, third, are cheerleaders at the school.
“It’s a fun school, a good school,” she said of Olive Street.
Nunez said the school is offering a STEAM lab this year. It is similar to STEM, which promotes science and mathematics, but with an arts component.
“The A is the difference,” he said. “It is a focus to bring the arts in as well.”
Nunez, who is beginning his fourth year as principal at Olive, said he has a teaching staff of 30.
Jason Pommier, district
spokesman, said there are more than 60 new teachers spread out over the district which has 24 campuses. Thursday was a busy day.
“It looks like enrollment will be up again,” he said Thursday afternoon after visiting 16 of the district’s campuses. “Everybody’s asking, where’s everybody coming from.”
The district will get updated enrollment numbers next week.
Pommier said there were no reports of any glitches in the Porterville Unified School District on opening day. He said one of the highlights he saw was the “hot box” at the school farm at Strathmore High School was just about finished and ready for students. That is the first development on that 11-acre site.