{"id":1000045,"date":"2026-08-14T10:22:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1000045\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T10:22:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:22:24","slug":"a-southside-elementary-reopens-for-first-day-of-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1000045\/","title":{"rendered":"A Southside elementary reopens for first day of school"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before the sun fully rose on Schenck Elementary School at 7 a.m., families were already lining up to drop off their students for the first day of school.<\/p>\n

Even though several of those students have been Schenck \u201cowls\u201d since kindergarten, they hadn\u2019t physically been on the campus for two years while the school underwent renovations.<\/p>\n

In that time, Schenck\u2019s staff and students went to Foster Elementary School, just a few minutes down Pecan Valley Drive and across Highway 281.<\/p>\n

Vanessa Pineda was dropping off her 10-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter on Wednesday, both of whom attended Schenck before being moved to Foster. She said the school now looks very different from what she remembered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of this was here,\u201d she said, referring to the shade structure and lights that cover the walkway where students were lined up. \u201cI\u2019m excited for them to come back. And the inside looks nice. It looks like a high school in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Parents and students wait in line to get into the school building during morning drop-off on the first day of school for SAISD\u2019s Schenck Elementary on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Siblings Nevaeh and Jace Gonzales were there for the first day of fifth grade and third grade, respectively. They both attended Schenck before the relocation to Foster and were excited to be back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But when asked what he was looking forward the most the 2026-27 school year, Jace did not say being in a nicer, bigger school. Instead he said:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably being upstairs with my sister and cousin.\u201d At Schenck, lower grades are housed on the first floor and older students on the second floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Part of the San Antonio Independent School District, Schenck underwent $33.9 million worth of upgrades funded by the district\u2019s 2020 bond.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That voter-approved money went toward a new, central two-story building with a new library, bigger classrooms, a makerspace or hands-on workshop, a new front entrance and communal areas made specifically for small student groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the outside, upgrades include covered walkways, new drop-off and pick-up locations, new greenery and improved parking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Construction crews also expanded the cafeteria, Schenck\u2019s kitchens got brand-new equipment, but kept a beloved neon sign designating the cafeteria as the \u201cSunflower Cafe\u201d in yellow block letters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Teachers and staff direct students to the cafeteria as they enter the school building during morning drop off at Schenck Elementary on Aug. 12, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

SAISD\u2019s first \u2018community room\u2019<\/p>\n

Named after longtime teacher and principal Kate Schenck, the school first opened its doors in 1954. At the time, it was celebrated for having the largest cafeteria to date in SAISD.<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t hold true for long, as school enrollment boomed across San Antonio, but now Schenck is boasting another first in the district: having a dedicated \u201ccommunity room.\u201d<\/p>\n

The room is intentionally placed right by the school\u2019s front entrance vestibule, a small room where all visitors to the schools must sign in and show identification before being let in.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas required schools to control visitor access through single-entry points, or vestibules.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But that can feel unwelcoming to families, said Patti Salzmann, SAISD\u2019s deputy superintendent who oversees the district\u2019s bond progress and infrastructure projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we keep our kids very safe, but also have spaces where maybe families can meet?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Parents hug and kiss their children before sending them off for their first day of school during morning drop-off at Schenck Elementary. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

The solution: a room that\u2019s connected to the campus but not inside the school itself.<\/p>\n

Schenck\u2019s principal Virgina Parker said all of the school\u2019s public engagement activities \u2014 from family meetings with staff to PTA meetings and advisory council meetings \u2014 will take place in the community room.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a neighborhood-friendly design that Salzmann says will carry on to other SAISD schools under renovation, like at Collins Garden Elementary School, where students were relocated to the Storm Elementary School campus this year while Collins Garden undergoes its own bond-funded renovations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also work still to be done at Schenck. As families and students outfitted with new backpacks poured into the school, construction crews carried on working on an annex building with more classrooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Construction around SAISD\u2019s Schenck Elementary continues as the campus reopens for the first day of the school year. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Serving Highland Hills<\/p>\n

Schenck is SAISD\u2019s largest elementary school by enrollment. Parker said 764 students were enrolled as of the first day of school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By comparison, most of the district\u2019s elementary campuses have between 300 and 500 students, and overall enrollment at SAISD has declined for years, leading to recent school closures and consolidations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than a large campus, Schenck has also stood as a backbone of the Highland Hills community it serves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roughly 90% of enrolled families attended Schenck\u2019s \u201cMeet the Teacher\u201d event on Monday, an unusually high number, Parker said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kathy Garcia was there to see her youngest granddaughter start kindergarten at Schenck. Her own children, now in their 40s, also attended Schenck.<\/p>\n

\"\"Kathy Garcia, a grandmother of a student attending Schenck Elementary, waits in line to see her granddaughter during morning drop-off. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cI live down the street, so I pass by here every day, and my husband said they\u2019re not going to be done by the time,\u201d she said, recalling when the school was in the middle of construction. \u201cWe were amazed with how everything came out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandra Pacheco, a special education assistant who\u2019s been with SAISD for 26 years, started to tear up when asked how she felt about the new campus. She started her education career at Schenck and her kids attended the campus too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe campus is changed, but for improvement overall,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s very overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before the sun fully rose on Schenck Elementary School at 7 a.m., families were already lining up to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1000046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,400468,21880,7202,25534,7203,400469,84562,358,7453,3187,7815,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,20705],"class_list":["post-1000045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-highland-hills","tag-saisd","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-independent-school-district","tag-sanantonio","tag-schenck-elementary-school","tag-school-bonds","tag-texas","tag-top-story","tag-tx","tag-typedaily","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-wc-750-1000"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117093373753467587","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1000045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1000046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1000045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1000045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1000045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}