The Santa Maria-Bonita School District is helping kids get ready for the new school year. For the new school year a school readiness health fair took place today for kindergarten through seventh grade.
Even though August 10, is the first day of school, volunteers are already helping support children and families by providing medical and dental services, clothing, and more.
“Today we are here to assist our families and our students and get them prepared for the first day of school,” Margot Olivrria, supervisor for the Family Service Agencies Family Outreach Program, said.
Families were invited to attend a school readiness fair on Saturday hosted by the Santa Maria Bonita School District in an effort to make sure all students are ready for the first day of school.
“People don’t have that much money so this is really a good opportunity for everyone,” local Santa Maria resident, Angel Cardonatapia, said.
Dental hygienists were also on hand to assist families needing these services.
“We will be contacting them to try to find them a dental home to get their dental needs met and if they do have a dental home, we just inform the parents what we found,” Janice Johnson, Dental Hygienist for Community Health Centers.
Free and low cost vaccinations were also available for students needing to get up to date before the school year.
“This is really important because a lot of times in our community parents don’t understand where they can get access to offer it in a safe location that they’re all familiar with,” Jennifer Ellsworth, Secretary in Health Services and helping coordinate the immunization part of the volunteer work, said.
The district chose to hold the event on the weekend since many parents and guardians work during the week and are hoping it helps take some of the financial pressure off families.
“Providing this ensures, the kids can be in school because otherwise, the state doesn’t allow them to be here and we wanna make sure that every kid has access to education,” Ellsworth said.
Most of the required immunizations for T-K or kindergarten require more than one dose, so parents should start early to make sure their child meets the proper state guidelines.
School supplies was also handed out to the students and they were also able to receive gently used clothing from the Children's Resource Network’s mobile clothes closet.
Schools in the Santa Maria Bonita School District head back to school on August 10.