HOW TO REGISTER
WHERE: Lakota Enrollment Center, 8735 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, West Chester Twp.
HOW and WHEN: By attendance zone: Wyandot: Feb. 23-27; Creekside: March 2-6; Shawnee: March 9-13; Liberty: March 16-20; Any building: March 23-27
HOURS: 7:30 a.m to 3 p.m., except for Feb. 26, March 5, 12, and 19, when the office will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
MORE INFO: For registration packets and lottery applications, visit www.lakotaonline.com/enroll. Documents will be available Feb. 1.
NOTE: Students must be 5 years old on or before Aug. 1 in order to enroll in kindergarten for the 2015-16 school year.
Starting next school year, the Lakota School District will expand the pilot test of its all-day kindergarten program by offering a tuition-free, all-day option.
The district has long maintained a half-day kindergarten program, which is mandated for all eligible students.
Under that system, one group of students comes in the morning, then goes home in the middle of the day. The same teacher, using the same classroom, then teaches a second group that comes in the afternoon.
For many years, parents have been interested in a full-day kindergarten program for their child, said Karen Mantia, Lakota’s superintendent. The current school year has seen the district pilot-test a tuition-based all-day kindergarten program.
The addition of a tuition-free, all-day kindergarten program is made possible by a change in the district’s state funding status, Mantia said.
“It’s now financially feasible to offer … our traditional half-day program, as well a full-day program,” she said.
Brad Lovell, principal at Creekside Early Childhood School, said news of the expansion was “fantastic” and something the community had been wanting.
“We’ve had a lot of families who have chosen to do an all-day program outside the district at multiple locations and those students come to us in first grade,” Lovell said. “Being able to have a program here in the building that allows those parents to stay in their home school, be in the culture of our district and … of our building, for us to be able to work with those families longer that just one year is just phenomenal. It helps us with every ability level of all the kids.”
Admission to the program will be by lottery.
“Using a lottery is the fairest way to select the students,” Mantia said. “Additionally, a few spaces in each class will be set aside for students who need the additional instructional time based on academic performance.
Lakota’s kindergarten classes are held at its four early childhood schools. Each school will add two classrooms for a total of four classrooms of all-day kindergarten.
Lakota will also continue to offer its half-day, tuition-free program for parents who prefer it.
“Offering both half-day and full-day programs is ideal,” Mantia said. “It gives parents the most flexibility in deciding what’s best for their child. With the change in our state funding status, it’s now financially feasible to offer both options.”
Parents who wish to enroll their child in all-day kindergarten can apply for the lottery at the time of registration. All lottery applications must be submitted between Feb. 23 and March 27, along with all other registration documents.
The state offers districts the option to admit students to kindergarten with birthdays on or before Sept. 30 or on or before Aug. 1.
Although Lakota has used the Sept. 30 deadline for many years, starting with 2015-16, Lakota will be using the Aug. 1 deadline for entrance to kindergarten.
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