The purpose of Back-to-School Night is often two-fold.

There’s the informational part in which parents are made aware of the expectations of the school year. They learned about the various on-campus clubs and organizations not to mention the nutritional value of each meal thanks to folks at the Manteca Unified Food Services.

And then there’s the social aspect. At McParland School, volunteers were the ones who cooked up hamburgers and hotdogs for families and guests on Thursday.

“We’ve been doing (the annual barbecue dinner) even before I came here,” said Dale Borgeson, who has been principal at the school for the past 14 years.

He added that it’s been so far, so good during the early goings of the school year. Back-to-School Night helps the process continue along that route.

“It’s fun and informational,” Borgeson said. “(Back-to-School Night) is joint effort by our Community Club and Leadership students.”

Included was student body President Stephanie Telles, who helped manage the event. Because of that, she also had a lighter load than usual of homework.

Leadership students had their Back-to-School Night chores.

Kaleigh Vautour and Isabel Moreno, both seventh graders, served as the official greeters to fourth- through- sixth- grade students and their families.

“It’s been fun working as greeters,” said Moreno.

Shelby Carlson, who is the eight-grade representative, along with classroom representatives Sierra Willis and Gabe Syler, both seventh graders, shared in the cafeteria clean-up duties.

Borgeson noted that the seventh- and eighth- grade students, instead, had junior high orientation.

K-3 youngsters also had Back-to-School Night on Thursday but at the McParland School Annex.

Families had two chances to catch the classroom presentations by the teachers. “We do that to help out those who have kids at both the annex and the main campus,” Borgeson said.