It was an event so popular that many guests had to park at a nearby church and hop on a school bus.

The Back to School Block Party at Duncanville’s Hastings Elementary drew hundreds of parents and students back to campus Aug. 21, a few days before the start of classes Aug. 25.

Hastings combined its bash with a traditional meet-the-teachers night. In one place, volunteers representing several school district organizations mingled with parents and passed along information on everything from staying within dress-code guidelines to registering to vote.

Outside, several families ate hot-dog dinners in a courtyard, while parents and students roamed the halls to renew acquaintances with veteran teachers and get to know some new ones.

“We’re all about kids and parents and making this a central hub for the community,” Hastings Principal Julie Hargrove said.

Special education teacher Lisa Lanham mirrored the principal’s thoughts.

“We really want the community to feel like they can come here and feel welcome and be a part of us,” Lanham said.

Nearby, Duncanville School District Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Wilson was part of a brigade instructing parents about the district’s proposed tax rate. Duncanville has called for a special election Oct. 7 to help pay for staff raises in a move that district officials say will increase the average tax bill on a typical $100,000 by about $130.

Wilson emphasized that she could encourage people to register to vote but not instruct them on how to vote.

At one station sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America, 11-year-old Ron Sykes and 9-year-old brother Marquis held a rather large blue-tongued skink named Dundee and a bearded dragon that went by the name of Draco as their mother, Quita Sykes, looked on.

Elsewhere, students had “passports” that they had to take around to several stations at Hastings. If they picked up the required number of stamps, they received a free backpack courtesy of Metro Mobile Electronics and MMS Company.

On the way to earning the backpacks, students, and in some cases parents, had to pick up registration packets, visit a classroom teacher, visit Wilson and others about the tax rate, and either visit the Hastings PTA booth or the booth for opportunities to volunteer.

In addition, they had to receive stamps from four out of eight remaining stations, which included meeting local officials such as Mayor David Green, visiting with the Duncanville Police Department and other Duncanville groups and organizations.

Ebonye McGee was looking forward to her new job as vice principal at Hastings.

“I’m extremely excited, and I’m nervous, and I’m looking forward to it,” said McGee, a former third-grade teacher at Hastings and at schools in Irving. “Julie and I work well together. We have a lot of the same ideas, and when the position came open I was just fortunate to be considered.”

Down one of the hallways, teacher Ana Little Owl described her unique position as the school’s first-grade bilingual teacher.

“There’s always a lot of enthusiasm,” when parents and students meet her, she said. “Being in a bilingual class is quite a bit different.”

Education starts with a completely Spanish kindergarten, then students progress to English in the first grade. In the second grade, there’s more emphasis on comprehension.

Little Owl is a former kindergarten bilingual instructor, and though she doesn’t teach at any grade level that has to take the TAKS test, she helps get students ready for it as they move up in grade.

“A lot of our students read above grade level in both languages,” Little Owl said, recalling one of her former students who started out without knowing a single word of English but went on to graduate as her high school’s valedictorian.