April 21, 2026

On April 14, Hughson Elementary School Parent Teacher Club board members and school staff hosted a fundraiser assembly to celebrate meeting this year’s fundraising goals and featured a pie-in-the-face prize for Principal Megan Reisz, Assistant Principal Jorge Pinedo and even Hughson Unified School District Superintendent Brenda Smith.

The story began early in the school year when the Parent Teacher Club met with Reisz and Pinedo to ask about potential prizes for meeting fundraising goals that the whole school could enjoy. “A couple of years ago, they came up with the idea of letting the teachers pie us if the students met a certain fundraising goal. They wanted to bring that back again this year. If the students raised $35,000, then Jorge and I would be pied by teachers,” Reisz said. “When they exceeded that number, we approached Superintendent Smith about her participation, and she was game!”

“I am in awe that our families were able to raise $50,000 for the HES students!” Smith said. “The Parent Teacher Club asked if I would participate in the pie experience if the students raised $45,000, and I jumped at the chance!”

Not only did they exceed their goal, but students raised a whopping $50,000.

Those funds will go towards field trips, covering costs ranging from buses to admission fees. The Parent Teacher Club helps teachers and grade levels fund special projects and has contributed to large projects on campus, like the new play structure on the first through third-grade playground. They fund student needs and provide send-off gifts to outgoing third graders to help celebrate their move to Fox Road Elementary. Funds help give teachers extra spending money, making their classrooms “the very best for the students,” Reisz said. “Lately, they have even added a regular staff appreciation aspect to what they do, giving back to our staff that does so much.”

About 30 members who meet monthly for the Hughson Elementary School Parent Teacher Club, with more attending when possible. Even larger numbers turn out to make the fundraisers and projects possible.

The day before the assembly, Hughson Elementary School celebrated the top fundraisers with a pizza party at Pizza Factory, where each of the top ten earners enjoyed all-you-can-eat pizza and five dollars in quarters to spend there.

At the assembly, the Parent Teacher Club recognized those individuals and classes that ran the most laps in the Fun Run.

And when it was time to pie, whipped cream pies were thrown at the faces of the superintendent, principal and assistant principal. Each teacher selected one of the administrators to pie. Some teachers had their students vote on who got the pie.

Reisz concluded, “The staff did a great job of distributing who got pied, although Mr. Jorge Pinedo was a crowd favorite.”

Smith estimates she met with five pies that day. “Mr. Pinedo definitely got the worst of it,” she said. “The students had fun, showed their Husky spirit, and raised money for a great cause.”