It's back to school with a beat at Pershing Elementary in North Dallas on Monday. Nearby middle and high school students showed up to cheer on the first busload of elementary students back to school.
Parents were all smiles, and most students were too, but the littlest learners had a few tears; it was just a part of that first day of class.
"I'm just hoping for the best. I'm just trying to stay calm so he can stay calm," said Leslie Molina, referring to her son Mateo.
She tried to keep the tears away from his eyes. It's his first year here; she swapped schools so Mateo could attend a special program here at Pershing to help him grow.
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"He's going into a special education telecommunication class. And they told me that Pershing has one of the best units for that," said Molina.
About 30% of the students here are mastering reading; their scores are higher than the district average. Carolina Vasquez is the lead reading teacher and is ready to hold on to the gains they made last school year.
"It's a fantastic curriculum, right? And again, it's a grade level. It's got a lot of rigor. The kids get to practice a lot. Teachers were kind of not so driven by STAAR prep, but they have to make sure, like they do the curriculum, that they have to be right," she said.
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Schools across Dallas ISD did better in reading scores district-wide but lagged in math like many other schools nationwide. It is the big priority set in place by Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde, who visited classes Monday morning to drive home the importance of mastering academics.
She also told reporters one of her big priorities this year was to fight for funding for Dallas ISD classrooms.
"I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to say we need everyone's help to fund schools first. Let's just focus on ensuring this session that we fund our public schools so that we can continue to do the great work to pay our teachers, to pay our teacher leaders, and to ensure that our students have all of the resources that are necessary."
