As students, teachers, and staff prepare to return, Semitropic School District is doing so under the guidance of a new Superintendent, Dr. Wendy Castañeda-Leal.
- Dr. Castañeda-Leal was hired earlier this summer and said her focus is on bettering the lives of students within the district by focusing energy on beautifying the campus, listening to students, and immersing herself in the culture that surrounds the school, the community, and Kern County as a whole.
- Semitropic School District is also hold a donation drive labeled "Wardrobes for Wildcats," headed by Melody Gebhardt and Janelle Delgado. Delgado, the Community School Coordinator said the community buy-in up to this point has been incredible, and if anyone wants to help, they can reach out to the district.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
As we barrel through the month of July, students and teachers are preparing to go back to school, but Semitropic, just west of Wasco is doing so with a new superintendent at the helm, I’m Sam Hoyle, your Wasco neighborhood reporter, Dr. Wendy Castañeda–Leal tell me above all her main goal is to better the lives of students.
Castañeda-Leal said demographically, Semitropic Elementary School’s students are largely Hispanic or Latino and face socioeconomic challenges. For her, she says she wants to work toward bettering students' lives by placing importance on listening to them and learning more about them, while fully immersing herself in the culture that surrounds, the school, the community, and Kern County as a whole.
“Being immersed in their own culture, because even if were racially the same or grew up in the same state or whatever it might be, each culture is different depending on the community, the family structure,” said Castañeda-Leal. “I really want to be immersed in the culture, be enriched by the history, and be a growing partner with the students and the parents.”
As teachers and staff prepare to welcome students back, school supplies and school uniforms are on the minds of parents across the district. Administration within the district knows that paying for uniforms can put a strain on financials, and as a result, they’ve created the "Wardrobes for Wildcats" project.
Melody Gebhardt and Janelle Delgado are heading that project for the school and say that the community buy-in has been incredible.
“The partnerships and the local communities who have donated, even they’re like, this is amazing, how do we donate, where can we sign up, who do we write a check to, so that’s been very nice,”
School starts here on August 7th, to learn more about what’s going on out here, you can check out the Semitropic Elementary School District website,
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