The Ripon Unified School District is searching for substitute teachers. “We were (recently) down 22 from our certificated staff,” said Superintendent Ziggy Robeson at a recent school board meeting. “We’re looking for more subs.” Four more substitute teachers, including Grasiela Franco-Carreno, Maria Ruiz, Soman Shokar, and Amy Mohler were hired. They were joined by Tiffany Lutz and Frank Martinez, both elementary school counselors, and elementary school Spanish teacher Celene Gutierrez on new hiring list. Kim Maberry (library clerk) and Emily Parsons (Title 1 instructional aide) are the newcomers at Ripona Elementary School. Julia Murillo was brought along as Mariachi technician. The Ripon Unified School District enrollment increased by 135 students from the first to second months of the 2021-2022 school year. Overall, the district tallied 3,272 students, with most of the increased numbers coming from the kindergarten- through- eighth- grade school sites. RUSD opened the 2021-2022 school year with an enrollment of 3,137. The high-water mark for enrollment at RUSD during this time of year was 3,360 during the pre-COVID-19 2019-2020 school year.