Those interested with eligible children who have yet to register are encouraged to do so as soon as possible.
Officials with Mt. Laurel Schools are expecting at least 327 new faces will be joining the district at the start of next school year as part of the district’s first offering of full-day kindergarten classes.
A new, full-day kindergarten program is just one of the projects funded by the district’s $35.5 million bond referendum voters approved in October.
According to Mt. Laurel Schools Superintendent George Rafferty, as of this week’s board of education meeting, 327 students had already been registered for the new program, which begins in September.
Those 327 registrations in the first month of open registration follow the district’s efforts to widely promote the new program and encourage interested families to register their children as soon as possible.
To that end, this year the district opened its registration process early by about a month and moved much of the process online.
This allowed families to digitally submit much of the required information regarding their child’s registration at their convenience.
Then, once families followed through with the online registration process, the district invited families to its district-wide “Central Registration Center” at the Margaret L. Haynes Transportation & Learning during the week of Feb. 4 through Feb. 8.
At that time, families could quickly complete the registration process for their children by letting officials verify required documents, such as birth certificates, proof of residency and proof of immunization.
As for those interested families who have children eligible for the district’s full-day kindergarten program but who have yet to register their children, Rafferty encourages parents to do so as soon as possible.
“We continue to encourage everyone to come out and register now — right now,” Rafferty said.
To qualify for the program, students must meet the following requirements:
· The child must be 5 years old on or before Oct. 1 of this year.
· The child’s birth date must be documented by an original birth certificate. The certificate must be presented in person during the verification process.
· A physical examination is required for all kindergarten students. The form that is required to be completed by a child’s doctor is on the district’s online InfoSnap system for families to download.
· Three proofs of residency must be presented in person during the in-person verification process, one of which may be a copy of settlement papers or agreement of sale or lease, in addition to two current utility bills.
· Proof of immunization according to the state Department of Health guidelines by law, which also must be presented during the verification process.
“We did a postcard mailing to all our residential addresses to just notify and make parents aware that if they currently do not have children in our schools, and they do have a kindergarten-aged child for next year, they should register, “ Rafferty said.
Rafferty also said the district is planning to hold a district-wide kindergarten orientation on April 3, which Rafferty said the district will release more information on in the future.
Rafferty said the event will precede the district’s normal procedure of having families of upcoming kindergarten children meet at their home school in May for an orientation at their specific elementary building.
For more information on the registration process, visit the district’s website at www.mtlaurelschools.org/Full-Day-K-2019-2020/.
