Merced City School superintendent reflects on first year in the district
With the school year winding down, Merced City School District superintendent Julianna Stocking is closing in on her first year on the job.
It’s bee a busy year filled with many changes as Stocking had to oversee district enrollment boundary changes, the decision to move sixth graders to middle school campuses in 2026 and bringing leadership stability to a district that has had five people fill the role of superintendent since 2020.
Stocking sat down for an exclusive interview with the Merced Sun-Star on some of the challenges, changes and issues the district has faced in her first year and what are her priorities moving forward.
Here are some of the questions posed to Stocking. Some of the responses have been edited for length.
Question: It’s been almost one year for you on the job, what are you most proud of from your first year as superintendent?
Stocking: “I am most proud of the team’s ability to come together and focus on students, specifically our growth in literacy. It has been a collective effort, from our teachers to our school leaders to our school board to our support staff and families of really recognizing the value of literacy and working together to do that. We have partnered with community partners for after school tutoring. We have partnered with our teachers and support staff for specific training in you fly for primary age students, and we’re seeing growth. To see kids grow over this year and go from non-readers to readers is the best feeling in the world.”
Question: What have been some of the biggest challenges?
Stocking: “One of the challenges was recognizing there has been some instability in terms of leadership for the last five years. So navigating that, bringing everyone together with our team members was definitely a challenge We were able to work through that and that took some crucial conversations, that took re-anchoring that integrity and professionalism. Students have to be at the center of everything we do and how we make decisions.
“I would say the another challenge was making mass boundary changes and thinking about the growth of the City of Merced. We know that this was a difficult decision, not something people like to do, but something we have to do for the purpose of safety for our children, as some of our campuses were overflowing and safety was definitely an issue.”
Question: Your first official day on the job was July 1, and on July 3 the grand jury report was released. What was it like navigating those issues right away?
Stocking: “I think that one of the things that we learned with the pandemic was how to navigate through crisis, and I understood the seriousness of when we have reports such as a grand jury report, and I believe also in taking responsibility and navigating that process professionally. As a year one superintendent, never having had to work through a grand jury report, I worked with our team and legal counsel and said, ‘Okay, this is what it is. We are going to work through it in a professional manner. We are going to meet the timelines of the response, and then we are going to take responsibility for those areas that we have control over and show the community that we’re willing to do better.’”
“That came with our commitment to having annual training for the Brown Act, having annual training and conversations and consensus with our school board regarding our school board handbook and how we are practicing our parliamentary practices and facilitating our board meetings so that we are functioning in a healthy and productive manner as one team.”
Question: What does the passing of Measure O and the most recent $21 million grant mean for the district?
Stocking: “Thank you to the community and their commitment to our schools by passing Measure O. This will give us the capacity now to support upgrades so that we have equitable facilities throughout the district. We have already started proposed projects that include shade structures, that includes turning portables into permanent buildings. We are looking to transition our schools that are on major roadways from chain link fences to the metal fences, such as Fremont Elementary, just ensuring safety and quality for our students, staff and our families.”
“The other thing that we are looking at is the Community Schools grant. We were one of the top five awarded in the entire state. This is $20.6 million so we will focus on parent engagement. We will focus on direct support service to students, including behavior technician for social skill development at each of our elementary schools. We will also sustain our campus security liaisons to continue focusing on physical safety, also social, emotional well being as they are sometimes the first to come in contact with our students and welcome our students to their day. We are also looking to add a social worker, so that we will have a minimum of one social worker per quad of our 19 facilities. And in addition, we will be adding school counselors.”
Question: What are your priorities for the district moving forward, and how do you go about making sure that those priorities are followed through?
Stocking: “Literacy will continue to be at the forefront of our student education and learning safety will continue to be a focus for us, as well as relationships, fostering and sustaining them with all of our educational community. That is something that now, moving into year two, we look at resources and support, so that next level will include training, that next level will include closely monitoring supports for targeted resources for our most under performing students.”
Question: When you talk to teachers, one of the issues they have is student discipline. What are some of the solutions, or how do you approach some discipline issues that many teachers are facing with students?
Stocking: “Student discipline has definitely been something that has surfaced this year, and I would say in general, as we’ve returned back from COVID. It’s going to mean really focusing on resources directly at the school level, specifically our Community Schools grant, where we will have behavior technicians to directly support our students and our staff with social skill development. I also think that we have to have a balance when it comes to our student social skill development and restorative practice, as well as accountability for behavior. Our priority is three: literacy, safety and relationships. We can’t have literacy if we’re constantly having disruptions. We can’t have safety if we’re constantly having discipline disruptions, and we can’t continue to have relationships if we don’t have a balance of restorative practices and accountability.”
“So for us, this year, it will be revisiting our PBIS program, Positive Behavior Intervention Supports, and also looking at our parameters for discipline and having a balance for our students. Our students, our staff and our families need to know that school is a safe place. We also need to let our students, staff and families know what the parameters are for expectations of behavior. We cannot afford to have lack of safety continually interrupt learning and safety, not only for the student at hand, but also for everyone else on campus.”
Question: Is there anything else you wanted to add about your first year?
Stocking: Merced feels like family to me. It feels like home because I grew up here in the area, and I hope to be here for a very long time, and that continues to be my commitment through the celebrations, as well as through the challenges. I am just so thankful for our community and our MCSD family for the hard work and dedication that they bring every day for our kids and our community.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2025 at 3:02 PM.
