Tioga ISD opened its doors Monday for the first day of school, officially marking the end of summer for the Ranch Cities school districts.
Faculty and staff greeted students and families with warm smiles and big hellos as they entered the school.
“Lots of smiling faces and kids bringing in their backpacks and their school supplies,” said Pamela Moore, Tioga Middle School Principal. “It's always exciting to see the kids and the parents get excited about back to school.”
For some parents, the goodbye was the hardest part.
However, the students in Rhonda Box’s Pre-K class looked excited for the morning ahead as they sculpted Play-Doh.
“We're just looking forward to us all getting together— a big family working together within grade levels—and we should have a good year,” said Ammie Scott, Tioga Elementary School principal and dys- lexia specialist.
The district had an array of new teachers who were ready to get the year started.
“We have a strong teaching team this year,” Moore said. “Some veteran teachers have been added to our team, and I'm super excited about how that's going to impact student success.”
One of them was Janet Gaston, a dyslexia teacher.
This is her first year at Tioga, but this is her 15th year in education.
“Everyone is so welcoming, staff and family,” Gaston said. “So, it's been a really nice start to the year for sure.”
She looks forward to continuing her passion in the district by giving “kids the gift of reading through the dyslexia therapy.”
Johna Gordon is another teacher who has joined the Bulldogs this year and is in her 21st year of education.
She will be the district’s second counselor and is also a middle school math teacher.
Superintendent Josh Ballinger was glad to see the students pouring into the schools.
“I always look forward to how I get to witness our staff and teams come together and make it best for kids,” he said. “That's really what we're here for, as cliché as it is; lots of people wear many hats around here, and we’re really appreciative of that.”
At the middle school, introductions and icebreakers help students get back into the groove, including an annual tradition where all the middle schoolers gather in the gym to be welcomed by their principal and introduced to the teachers.
One of them was returning teacher Cynthia Shelton, who’s in her ninth year at the middle school.
“I'm really excited to have another year here in the middle school and be able to touch all these lives every day,” Shelton said, and this year she will have the unique opportunity to teach her twin daughters, who are now sixth graders.
At the high school, the morning started earlier than usual for the Class of 2027 as they met up on campus for senior sunrise.
It’s one of the many traditions for seniors, including senior skip day, which Gabyn Redfearn shared he was especially excited about.
While students were planning their big break, Tioga High School Principal Keith Kirkland shared that the first day of school is a moment he looks forward to.
“It’s always good to have students back in the building,” Kirkland said. “It makes for a pretty long, boring summer when I'm up here working, preparing for the new year. And then when students get to come back in and fill the halls, it's always a good day.”
The high school theater department wasted no time moving and working on props for their production of “Cinderella,” set to premiere this October.
“Freshman year, it feels like forever ago because I felt like almost a lifetime worth of experiences just doing theater now,” senior Kallin Henverson said, sharing he felt both sad to end this chapter yet thrilled to give it his all in his final year of theater.
“It really is an amazing experience, and I’m extremely excited to get back into it,” he said.
