MCOE Education Spotlight: Preparing for the new school year

MERCED COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Landon: All right, Dr. Tietjen. So what's going on at MCOE?

Steve: Well, Landon, it's good to be back. I'm working in kind of a four-year cycle around the elections. We just got through the election and I'm happy to report I'll be back for four more years. And you know, the focus that we have in these kinds of budget times is to really provide the best support we can for school districts around professional development. Teachers need a lot of support improvement, and programs costs money. So as a county office, our role is to help provide support for improvement through having staff developers that we have available to school districts across our county and actually across our region. We're excited about our focus on math and math development here in Merced County. As a matter of fact, this week, we have outstanding educator from Stanford University leading teachers and math preparation, Dr. Jo Boaler, and we're excited to be a leader here across the county and our mission to support teachers as we work to improve students lives. That's number one, and it's kind of a four-year looking at a lot of work around professional development, not only in mathematics, but in the arts as well. So we're excited, really excited about what's happening. Some more immediate updates: So I want to just share again, you've been running PSA that we did a couple weeks ago regarding transitional kindergarten. And I just want to reinforce again how important it is for parents to have a child that's born between September 1 and February 2 to know that there's a program now in schools, "transitional kindergarten," for four-year-olds turning five by February 2, where they can be enrolled in school for a full day and they can get their child that early start that so important for children in those early grades. So contact your local district, whether you're here in Merced County, or across the Valley, find out what the program timelines are for your kids in your neighborhood school and get your child enrolled. That's my message for today.

Landon: Well, Dr. Tietjen, as we wrap up these last few weeks, I know the kids at home aren't going to want to hear me say that, but these last few weeks of summer. Is there anything else you want to share with the folks at home watching this?

Steve: Well, you know, the teachers and school staff are excited about coming back this year. We've got really kind of a new lease online. We here at Merced County are celebrating the 2023 year in a way that maybe we haven't before because it really is back to what we thought was normal and we're excited about that. We're looking forward to seeing all those young faces back in school again, come August.