CHULA VISTA, Calif. — Showing off her new digs, 23-year veteran teacher Julie Huezo can't wait for the little ones to see her T-K, or transitional kindergarten classroom.
"We will have 24, four-year-old's tomorrow and I am very blessed to have a full-time teacher assistant,” said Huezo, also a mother of two daughters.
Huezo says she is blessed to teach at Fahari Jeffers Elementary School on Camino Prado that will opens its doors to students for the first time in the morning.
"I'm excited to be at a brand-new school, this is my third brand-new school. It’s a great clean slate,” said Huezo.
The T-K through 6th grade building makes school number 50 for the Chula Vista Elementary School District that has been around for 130 years.
The school is named after Fahari Jeffers, who was a longtime activist in the community.
"We are super excited to name the school after her and honor her after her passing in 2019,” said Giovanna Castro, Chula Vista Elementary School district spokesperson.
While Jeffers will start at 8:15 a.m. other South Bay Schools will debut the state mandated high school and middle school start times that took effect this month.
All Sweetwater Union High Schools will start at 8:30 a.m. and middle schools at 8 a.m.
"It's going to be some adjustments, we understand for our families, but we have been working to communicate this out so that our families would understand what this change means for them,” said Dr. Moises Aguirre, Sweetwater Union High School District superintendent.
Aguirre says his campuses are ready for the first day tomorrow, but there will be some adjustments to new school bus routes, lunch times and after-school programs.
COVID testing and mask wearing is recommended but not required for the district unless a student returns to school after testing positive for COVID.
"We are still going to ask that they wear a face mask, a required facemask for a limited period of time,” said Aguirre.
Chula Vista Elementary schools will provide sanitizer and masks, but there's no mask mandate.
"We are strongly encouraging students to wear a mask, but it is optional. We can’t wait to see everyone’s smiling faces,” said Castro.
This will be the first time since the pandemic in 2020 started that sent students home for virtual learning that school will start all in person in Chula Vista.
"They are exposed to a lot of screen time nowadays, so we really try to limit that in our classroom,” said Huezo.
Huezo took a week to set up and decorate her new classroom and can't wait for her young students to see it.
"Yeah, there's going to be some tears probably, but they'll move past it, they will,” said Huezo.
WATCH RELATED: New CA law requires later start times for middle and high schools this upcoming year (July 2022)