By Brooke Schultz

For the state’s youngest learners, kindergarten is where the basic foundation of a child’s education begins, noted Dustin Weller, student services, safety and transportation supervisor at Lake Forest.

“It’s where they learn social skills,” he said. “It’s where they learn routines and habits and the different methods of learning that take place.”

And as kindergarten registration opens in districts around the state, students in kindergarten made up the largest rates in single-family homeschools (471) and private schools (1,213) statewide in this year’s data released by the Department of Education late last year.

In Lake Forest, there was an enrollment drop for kindergarten, which Mr. Weller said the district is unsure if it can be attributed to the pandemic. One elementary school dropped about 30 kids, he said. In total, there was a change of about 167 more students who live in the Lake Forest footprint enrolled in nonpublic schools across grade levels between last year and this year, according to DOE’s data.

The district began a push this month to start registrations earlier with in-person registration Fridays in March, with an event being held Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. at all three of the district’s three elementary schools.

He said it’s important to keep registration in-person, but to do it with COVID-19 safety in mind.

“It just helps families make connections with the people in the front office, and the administrators and teachers at the schools,” he said. “And then, in the event that there are various screeners and various things that students need to complete to help them with class placement and things like that, that’s why that’s important.”

Moving online

In the days before COVID-19, Appoquinimink School District would have families come to one of the district’s middle schools. They’d filter into the cafeteria and fill out the paperwork at different stations.

“The whole system was a very well-oiled machine,” said Sharon Pepukayi, assistant superintendent for pre-K through elementary. “But with COVID, we had everything go online, which makes it a little bit harder. I think the thing with online, it’s not as personal.”

Many others have moved to an online format in response to COVID-19. Dr. Kelly Green, principal for Early Childhood Programming in Capital School District, said that last year was the district’s first time doing things online. They continued that this year.

“That has definitely been helpful, and it makes it a little bit more simple for families because it’s all in one place,” she said.

Milford School District’s process has been similar. Jennifer Hallman, principal for Morris Early Childhood Center in Milford, said the district has been working to address any gaps in technology when filling out the forms.

“It hasn’t really been a barrier, other than we have had more difficulty getting the supporting documentation,” she said. “So when families need to submit a copy of the child’s birth certificate and a copy of their photo ID and proof of residency requirements for registration is a little bit more difficult to come by in the virtual setting. So we have a lot of followup calls to make with families.”

Ms. Hallman said a few families decided to homeschool but additionally, they saw more families moving their children to private schools that were offering a five-day-a-week program.

Milford saw a change in about 72 more students enrolled in nonpublic schools who live within the geographic region of the district.

“We are able to try and respond to that just in terms of making sure that we explain to families that, regardless of the model of instruction that we’ve provided this school year, it is our goal for every child to get the same academic experience in terms of exposure to the standards for kindergarten and the same expectations for kindergarten completion that everyone else has,” she said.

Looking ahead

Responding to what they’ve learned this year is a theme through the districts. It’s the intention of Lake Forest to have their kindergärtners in-person next year.

“One of the things that we’ve learned this year from the pandemic is how vital it is to get our kindergarten students off to that basic foundation and that start of being in school, being in front of a teacher, and just being in basic routines, learning social and emotional skills that are necessary for the rest of their academic career,” Mr. Weller said.

Appoquinimink (which saw a change of 216 more students in nonpublic schools) will be having more learners in its classrooms starting next week, after the district moved to reduce the space between students from 6 to 3 feet. They’re also trying to give more breaks to cut down Zoom fatigue.

“We do know that kindergarten-age students, they’re engaged in play, they’re engaged in various activities,” Dr. Pepukayi said. “They do have the academics but it’s a balance of that and being able to do it in a fun way. And so, with the social distancing, the desks being in a classroom instead of tables, we have had families [decide] it’s better to be at home. But what we’ve done in our K-centers is try to make it as normal as possible.”

Dr. Green said the younger students have an active lifestyle.

“They are not necessarily driven to do those school-based activities on a screen, and certainly anything more than 10 or 15 minutes is really pushing the limit for some of that,” she said, noting that in-person learning is certainly preferred. “The more in-person time we can get with them, the better. So we’re trying to work some of those things out currently with our hybrid schedule so that we can get as much face-to-face contact with them as possible.”

Register early

As registration is underway, the educators added it’s important for parents to register earlier rather than later.

“Most of the time if you’re getting enrollment for kids grades one through 12, it’s because they’re moving into the district,” Mr. Weller said. “Whereas, this is really where you get the bulk of your enrollment.”

Enrollment determines things like unit count (i.e. personnel staffing schools and teaching classes). But knowing how many kindergärtners are coming in sooner rather than later helps schools figure out what they need.

“Sometimes families get surprised,” Dr. Green said. “They didn’t have a particular document that they needed. Oftentimes that happens with certain pieces of physicals and immunizations. And then they get surprised with, ‘Oh my kid can’t start yet because I don’t have that?’”

In Milford, their screening process — typically completed as parents filled out forms — will take place virtually.

“Our biggest concern is making sure that the child is entered into the system and screened as early as possible. That does help us make determinations for the child and their needs starting school in the fall,” Ms. Hallman said.

The district will offer kindergarten readiness opportunities over the summer, she said, and families who are registered and screened are eligible.

“We do frequently have a lot of families that do wait until later in the year and that really makes it difficult for placing the child in the correct setting, in terms of the classroom fit and the parents having a lot of choice and those types of things,” she said.

Even before COVID-19, the district had seen fewer students participating in a pre-k learning environment prior to enrolling in kindergarten.

“One of our biggest goals for students is to have great social and emotional skills. So when they come to us in kindergarten and without having been in any type of formal experience prior,” Ms. Hallman said. “A lot of what we do with the students is really just make sure that they know how to share and be a good friend, and interact with their peers successfully because those skills will last them a lifetime.”

With COVID-19, she thinks they’ll see an increased need for social-emotional learning.

“We’ll have children who potentially will have been six years without really having had the advantage of stepping foot into a school building,” she said. “So there are going to be some challenges I think with that, moving forward. But I’m sure that we’ll be able to tackle them.”

There have been learning opportunities that came out of this year, Dr. Green said. In a traditional attendance scenario, a student could be out for a few days a week due to allergies or asthma issues and get behind.

“We have the opportunity now where we can take advantage of these online strategies that we have benefited from to keep including those kids in the classroom, even though they can’t physically be there for some reason,” she said. “We’re still kind of in the process of looking at some of those things and how that is going to work for next year … We’re hoping for as much face-to-face time as possible, but we’re also excited about some of the possibilities that have come out of some of these online strategies and techniques to really just help keep kids engaged.”