A week from Monday close to 160,000 kids go back to school in DISD. Saturday morning, a couple hundred families showed up outside the Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services to get their kids vaccinated.
"If your children are not immunized they're going to be turned away from school on the first day,” said Zach Thompson, the director of the Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services. “We want our children in school the first day, not standing in line trying to get immunization shots.”
A few miles away at the Dorothy Moore Youth Center we found Jonathan Martinez who already got his shots. Saturday he got a snazzy Superman backpack full of supplies for free. Hundreds of East Dallas kids are set for school as well.
Dorothy Moore's Reconciliation Outreach has been doing this back to school bash for a dozen years to put inner city kids in position to succeed.
"You know it does,” says Moore. “If they can afford to have their stuff when they walk into school they have that dignity and pride that they're just like everybody else."
Martinez says excited about starting the 6th grade and he'll enter his new school with a new plan.
"More paying attention because last year when I was in 5th grade I didn't pay attention,” said Martinez. “I was playing around."
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"I want to go back to school because I want to see all my friends and study," said sister and fellow 6th-grader Nayeli Garcia.
Their grandmother, Bobbie Costello is ready for school to start now.
"Well I want them to go back to school because they're bored and I'm happy for them to go back,” said Costello. “They have to learn."
