When Julianna Stocking took the reins of the Merced City School District (MCSD) last June it was a coming home of sorts for the Livingston High School graduate who went on to become a top educator up north in Tracy.
The Merced job — managing operations, staff and policies for the largest school district in Merced County — was quite the opportunity. MCSD supports more than 12,000 students from preschool through eighth grade. It includes four middle schools, 14 elementary schools, and a highly-rated state preschool program at 13 of those locations.
Of course, for Stocking, the City of Merced offered familiar surroundings, and family members nearby. However, she also found inspiration in the idea of a university town that’s growing in importance. She envisioned amazing new educational opportunities that she and the MCSD team could help provide for local young students.
This month, the Times met with Superintendent Stocking at her office for an update on the district as it heads into 2025, and takes on issues such as boundary adjustments, moving 6th grade classes to middle school campuses, and approving upgrades after the passing of Measure O. We also asked about her overall experience up to this point.
Let’s talk about your first six months on the job. What have you learned about the Merced City School District?
I’ve been focusing my attention on really getting to know the community. I know what it has been in the past. Traditions, very family-centered, community-centered — all of which I love. But what can it look like moving forward?
I want to make sure that our schools’ programming, enrichment and facilities are growing, just as the vision of the city is.
Specifically, what I have learned in the last six months is, definitely, we will continue our focus on literacy, and the foundations of literacy for our phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding — with a balance of love of reading. I think that when we do this as a collective — which is happening in our schools every single day —we are going to see growth.
It’s going to take time. And I think it’s important that when we have a lot of growth to make, that we celebrate that growth along the way. … All of our teachers are committed to literacy and providing direct instruction. When it comes to phonemic awareness for our kids in the primary grades, they’re working together as teams with a focused literacy committee led by Mr. Sergio Mendez, our assistant superintendent of educational services. And they’re doing tremendous work, and it takes a lot of people to do that work.
I think that’s what we’re really focused on: Daily, high-quality instruction, providing our teachers and students support when they need additional support, and then following that data along the way, and then celebrating that growth.
I am visiting classrooms regularly, along with principals who are really focused on instructional strategies, and we’re already seeing students start to transition from nonreaders to readers, and that’s amazing that that can happen in such a short time. But it takes a commitment.
And then we have students who need additional help. So we are very fortunate that with our funding formula we can provide intervention during the day. We can also offer additional services and partner with our local community providers such as the Bali Learning Center and the Harvest Park Educational Center. We have tutors that come from UC Merced and Merced College in all of our schools. Just tremendous partnerships to help with academics for our kids.
What are the district’s viewpoints regarding plans to accommodate its student population, new school boundaries, and the proposal to move 6th grade classes to middle school campuses?
We do have instances where we have overflow and overcrowding, or specialized programs that families are electing to partake in such as Montessori, our GATE program. We are also going to be starting a dual language immersion program in this upcoming school year. But definitely, when we look at the makeup of our city, we are experiencing [a situation] where we have a number of impacted classrooms, with a lot of students in some grade levels — in some classrooms at some schools — and then we have a very low number of students in other classrooms, in some schools.
For example, we could have 27 students in first grade in one classroom, and 19 in a first grade classroom at another school. So we really want to make sure we balance the numbers out.
And so part of that has to do with all of the building that’s continued in north Merced. We are discussing boundary adjustments. We’ve had several community meetings.
We’ve been meeting with our committee and teacher teams in this first part of the school year, and we’ll continue that, and we will have boundary adjustments as we start to move into this next school year.
It’s something our district has been working on since last school year, and now we’re at a point where we’re ready to start making those shifts.
For us, it’s really important that we are giving opportunities to our team members, as well as communities, so that they’re aware of what those impacts can be.
We, in fact, last night had a community meeting for our families, at Tenaya Middle School, and our multi-purpose room was packed. So we were very, very happy to see so many parents and staff in attendance.
During discussion on boundaries, is there one district or school area that is getting more attention than others?
So we definitely have Rivera Elementary and Rivera Middle School that are sharing the same campus facility. And that facility was not built to support the number of students they have. When it comes to logistical, operational management of the school, the principals have to really coordinate on who is using the gym, the multipurpose room, feeding students breakfast and lunch, using facilities for recess time, and access to the library. I mean it literally is operating every minute of the day — often utilizing every inch of that facility.
So we want to make sure that we’re very thoughtful about the boundary of which students are zoned to go to Rivera, and we’ll have to make some specific adjustments there.
We have more room in our south-side schools, but where we have more of our growth and development happening is in the north. So as we adjust our boundaries, and adjust them south, then the impacts those families would share is: Well, which school am I going to go to now? It’s inevitable, and it’s just something we have to look at. But it also means less time on a school bus for kids, as they’re closer to their school proximity.
You know, we pride ourselves in creating great school climates, and learning experiences. I think another thing we have to do, as well, is ensure that all of our schools are great schools. And I truly believe they are. And sometimes we just don’t know, because we haven’t been at that school, but as I’m visiting all of our schools, and in my first six months, really taking the time to build relationships, get to know our team members, and our community members, I see that they’re are great things happening in every single one of our schools. And it’s our job to make sure that we’re continuing to bring programs and services and experiences that are going to ensure that.
The Board of Education decided in 2014 to move sixth-graders to elementary schools to ease overcrowding at middle schools. Why are we now talking about reversing that strategy?
It’s really the vision of having high quality programs and services for all of our kids at all of our schools. There are two things: We want to make sure we have a balanced number of kids in our classrooms. That also increases the quality of the program, because now kids can have a smaller setting, teachers and support staff can be more responsive, and safety becomes a benefactor to be able to support kids in classrooms.
And then, when we think about moving 6th grade to middle school, in my experience in K-8 (as a teacher and principal at both elementary and middle schools) I saw the benefit that having a 6 through 8 middle school can offer to our kids. It gives us more capacity to offer more electives, because we have more staff members. I would love to actualize the vision of bringing Career Technical Education (CTE) into our middle school grades for our students.
We’re very fortunate that our Merced Union High School District offers pathways for CTE for all of our students as part of their diploma requirement for graduation. I would like them to have that experience in middle school already, so that when they have to select a CTE pathway going into high school, they have an interest, and they’ve already had some various experiences to know what CTE pathway they would like to explore and actualize in high school.
We are also looking to offer World Language in our middle schools starting next year, and just really bring those opportunities to our students. And it’s a great opportunity, because thanks to our voters, we have approved the bond [Measure O]. So, as we’re modernizing classrooms and turning portables into permanent buildings, we can do that now with an educational vision, so that we’re not just turning portables into buildings. We can turn portables into CTE-branded buildings so that they are equipped for our students to have access to agriculture, medical, and culinary — whatever it might be — for our kids here Merced.
During the discussion of these plans at recent community meetings, what concerns were brought up by parents who showed up?
Some of the common themes, and these are coming from our families, are questions about the impacts on the students — socially and emotionally — what will happen? What things we will be put into place for moving sixth grade to middle school because of the maturity of seventh and eighth graders, and their, you know, students’ interest, as well as, preadolescence moving on into teenage years, and how we’re going to really make sure that our sixth graders have a smooth transition to that. There were concerns about them being exposed to bullying, more mature behavior, and fights.
And so what we shared with them: As we shift from 6th grade to middle school, whether that will be next year or two years out, (which we’re recommending that it be two years out, so we have more time to plan, and our board will vote on that) we will be making sure that we also have the resources for that transition. So we’re exploring increasing the number of school counselors, ensuring that we will continue with our one-time funded campus security liaisons, which were funded with COVID / ESSER monies, but now we’re looking to fund them long-term because safety is also one of our three priorities. So, just making sure that we have the resources there regarding safety and social emotional support for our kids.
With growth predominantly occurring in north Merced, why is Cruikshank the only district school north of Yosemite Avenue? What are the obstacles to planning for additional primary schools in Merced?
The big looming question I know in the community (not just this year but in the past) is: Why haven’t we built a new school? What I have shared (when we were giving information about our bond that was thankfully approved) is we will build a new school. We just have not been in an enrollment position to build a new school. If you look at our enrollment, even though some of our schools are impacted, some are not, so we don’t yet qualify for the state funds.
You mean the overall enrollment?
Exactly. Compared to the space we have in facilities. So what I have shared is even now, with our existing bond money, we don’t have the facility to enrollment ratio to match, to build a new school. So what I’ve shared is that this current bond will focus on modernization of our facilities. And then in two and a half years, we will start planning for the development of a new school.
We own three properties in the north, and we will build on one of those.
Even though our enrollment by our SchoolWorks consult is projected to sustain, sometimes slightly decrease, but sustain overall, by 2029-30 we are looking to have an estimated 450 more students, which equates to a medium size school — an elementary I would say. So as we are growing capacity there, and we are able to verify the age of students that move into those homes, then we will determine if that new school will be another elementary, or another middle school. Because we don’t know if they’re going to
be young or older students. Sometimes adults are moving into these homes and they don’t have children.
The timing is really working out quite well for us.
What kind of improvements will the community see at local schools after voters approved Measure C in November?
No.1, we are very thankful to our community for voting and passing the bond. And it had a pretty high passing rate.
We will focus on areas of safety that will include updating our camera systems on our facilities, primarily our schools, ensuring that all of our buildings are labeled. Some of our schools already are, but it helps us continue that work, so that in an incident of an emergency, we’re able to work with our first responders to be able to identify the buildings and facilities to best support immediate response, as well as update our cameras, and add cameras should there be any blind spots.
We will add more safety precautions to our middle schools. That will also include switching out all of our chain link fences that we have along the perimeters of some of our schools to iron fences around our schools. It’s safer for our kids, aesthetically they look better, it brings up home value to our homeowners as well, within those neighboring areas. One I can think of is Fremont School, with a chain link fence all along R Street — a main street.
Those are some things, even just as I first started I thought, “We’ve got some great things that we can make happen here.
We’ll be looking at modernizing our classrooms to make sure they’re equipped with technology, and then turning our portables into permanent buildings. Also more shade structures, of which we’ve been able to do as some of our schools, but ensuring the rest get them as well.
The measure also qualifies us for reimbursement funds and matching funds. So we are very excited. Every school, of course, is providing a list for those reimbursement funds for Proposition 2, and we are ready to go. We definitely look forward to improving the curb appeal of our schools. It’s good for our kids. It’s good for our team. And we want to make sure that it’s also our homeowners and community members who are seeing the investment of their dollars because that will then in turn help continue to hold and increase the value of their homes.
You will see on our board agenda, the acceptance resolution of Measure O. So then we will start putting projects out to bid, and getting ready to work. We’re going to have a lot of facility projects over the next five years.
Talk to us about measures to keep young students safe. What cooperative programs do you have with the city police?
We have three areas of focus in our district, one of those being building and sustaining relationships. Second literacy, and third, highly important, is safety.
In schools, we look at two things: social-emotional safety to make sure we have programs and services for our students. Mental health and well-being, as well as physical safety.
When it comes to physical safety, unfortunately, we are in a day and age, where schools are now becoming these areas where we have intruders that are coming on campus, intentionally there to do harm.
It is something that we can be highly ready for, and I think that’s why it’s so important that we have our safety plans that are really, lock and key, and updated annually. We have a safety committee. We also have to have very important partnerships with our first responders.
One of the things I’m so so grateful for is that partnership with Merced Police Chief Steven Stanfield. When I first started, I was able to sit down and talk to him, and we really talked about what our partnership could be moving forward as a community. We started within the first month of school, and our campaign was ‘Safe From The Start,” and we partnered with our Merced PD, and with CHP, to help us monitor our roads for that first week of school. So they assisted in putting the speed trailers out in our high volume areas where we know we have a lot of traffic for our drop off and pickup time. Also, in some of our rural schools, Joe Stefani and Franklin Elementary, in which CHP were parked and actively monitoring drivers and ensuring safety. Those partnerships are critical to us and our student safety moving forward.
In addition, we have our emergency response protocols as a district. We have a team here that has to do with communication and coordinating, not only internally, but then outward, so we can communicate to our staff, and go into lockdown when needed, and then really work in partnership with our first responders.
Communication is key, and the challenge with technology [and social media] during an emergency is that everyone wants to communicate at the same time. I’m a parent myself, and a former principal and teacher. It’s one thing to be a teacher inside a campus on lockdown. We know what the protocol is, and we’re working with our first responders. But I definitely understand how this can be very scary as a parent, when you’re not there and you are very worried about the well-being of your children. Nothing is more important than that. But what happens is that everybody wants to go to that area when, in fact, we want that area to be safe and secure, and really leave it in the hands of our first responders. So that has been something that we continue to work on — having accurate information, and putting it out in an accurate time so that first responders can work accordingly, without sometimes unverified information taking place on social media in real time. We all have good intentions, but that’s just something that we continue to work on.
We have several things in place when it comes to reports of weapons, threats, fights and drugs. We investigate these reports immediately. I think a lot of it has to do with our students’ mental health. And that’s what we’ve seen in these big cases. Many times kids have stated that they were bullied or picked on, or mistreated, or they didn’t feel a sense of community at their schools and/or were really struggling with mental health illness.
We are very fortunate in our district to have school counselors at all of our schools, including our elementary schools. We have behavior experts. We closely monitor our students’ behavior in that way, and work directly if a student needs a behavior plan and/or additional support, and/or counseling services. We also have contracts with mental health providers for students that need, I would say, a more intense counseling support service.
We currently have two resource officers, and they mainly support our four middle schools. Our goal is to increase the number of school resource officers to four, especially as we explore moving sixth grade over to the middle schools. We are pursuing a community schools grant, which is $20.5 million over the course of five years, and we’re working on that grant right now.
Also, we will be actively working on increasing gang awareness and reinstituting a gang task force in our district so that we can make sure that we have the proper resources in partnering with our Police Department on what are the signs to look for, and what are the interventions and programs that we can provide students to help get them back on the right track.
How can the community help create success throughout the Merced City School District?
Over the last six months, the community has been so welcoming. It was just an amazing introduction. And I think there are ways that we can partner with our community members, specifically for students who struggle socially or socioeconomically, by creating avenues such as recreational sports offerings, art activities, and after-school programming.
We’re fortunate that we have a lot of incredible partners here. We partnered with a local soccer club to offer sports activity during our last summer school session, and there were hundreds of students participating. It was incredible.
We have community partners who support academics, including the Bali Learning Center and the Harvest Park Educational Center. We are also starting a partnership with the Youth Leadership Institute which focuses on mentorship and leadership development for our middle school students.
We continue to partner with the local Boys and Girls Club, and we are also continuing to build and grow our own after-school program, known as the MARS program. And then, of course, we have access to the arts, through local partners such as the Multicultural Arts Center.
So because of all this, and more, we’re so grateful to our community.