WANTED: Pre-K Students

As pre-K registration winds up, the question rises again: Where are the children?

Pre-K registration officially closed Wednesday evening, and every school that offers a pre-Kindergarten program had fewer students than expected.

When pre-K was offered for a full day last year, Lamar Early Education Center principal Brenda Bentley said the school had no waiting list by the time classes started in August.

With the new half-day schedule, Lamar has spots for 400 regular education students and 160 bilingual education students, a total of 560. There are about 440 students registered for the coming school year.

“If we can’t fill the spots … we’re just going to keep registering as long as they’ll come sign up for it,” Bentley said.

Last April, Ector County Independent School District officials announced pre-kindergarten classes would be shortened from a full day to a half day for 2010-’11 school year. Pre-K teachers and administrators voiced concern over a change that would shorten class time even if it would, theoretically, increase enrollment.

Then assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction Janet Baker — who has since retired — stated there were children out there not being served by the district. Baker said this was the best way to expand the program without increasing the program’s budget.

The state only pays for a half-day of pre-K per child. Last year, the district covered the cost of the other half-day. Increasing enrollment increases state funding while eliminating ECISD’s share of the program costs. The move was made, and the pre-K programs around the district were expected to grow.

But that hasn’t happened yet.

The Blanton Elementary pre-K program is significantly smaller than Lamar’s. There’s just one teacher and space for 44 students, 22 in the morning session and 22 in the afternoon. Blanton principal Evelyn Garcia said they plan to fill the morning class before opening up the afternoon session, and 18 students have registered so far.

She’d like to see the numbers higher but Garcia isn’t concerned about enrollment yet. Garcia said they’re anticipating more people signing their kids up when they register with their families during elementary registration.

“We’re doing good. I’m sure we’ll be able to fill the class up once regular registration starts,” Garcia said.

The pre-K program at Milam Elementary is the same size as Blanton’s. There are 13 students signed up for the morning session and seven students signed up for the evening session, Milam principal Staci Ashley said.

Ashley said she is a little concerned, but everyone is trying to stay calm right now.

“We’re just trying to stay positive. We’ve got teachers in here who are calling families with siblings and trying to help find students. It’s not stressful yet. Come the first day of school it may be if we don’t get more students by then, but right now we’re just staying positive and working on finding the students,” Ashley said.

Milam pre-K teacher Becky Walker is also trying to stay calm and hoping more students show up. “But what do I do if they don’t? This is my position, and I have to have students to teach,” she said.

Teachers at Carver Early Education Center have also been showing concern about the number of students, Carver principal Sally Navarro said.

“We’ve had teachers calling in and a couple came up to school asking about the numbers. I just try and reassure them,” Navarro said.

Still, she is concerned. Carver has places for 600 students, but only 273 students have registered this year. Navarro said many of the families she talked to decided to go with daycare programs or Head Start, a federally funded early education program because they needed full-day childcare.

“Those programs are great, but there’s a big difference between what they do in daycare and what we do in school. Head Start offers them some education, but those employees aren’t trained, and it’s not the same as a school,” Navarro said.

She said she hopes to see more students enrolled and would do whatever is necessary to reach any children who aren’t being served by the program.

“Something has to happen, because if we don’t get more students in here we’re not using the facilities prudently or using the funds for them in the best interest of the district. We’ll do whatever it takes to get the children here, but something’s got to give,” Navarro said.

Next week, the principals from Blanton, Milam, Carver and Lamar will meet with ECISD assistant superintendent elementary operations Wendy Hines, now in charge of early education, to discuss solutions to the low enrollment numbers.

In the past, pre-K was only available to students who met one of the state guidelines for qualification. Opening up the program to 4-year-olds who don’t meet any of the state qualifications is a likely solution, Hines said.

If they do choose this route, state law requires the schools to keep some spaces open for eligible students, but they could still give the teachers more students to teach. ECISD won’t get any state funding from these students attending the school, but this would still be a way to expand pre-K services to more students in the district.

If they decide to enroll unqualified 4-year-olds, the district will still see a slight increase in funding by not having to pay for the other half of a full-day pre-K program, Hines said. They’ll also be serving more students, Hines said.

“We wanted to serve more students in the district, that’s why we went to half-day … and this will be serving more students,” Hines said.

Hines is still optimistic though and said she still hopes to get more qualified students enrolled in the program.

“It’s still early. We’ve got a whole month before school starts, so we could get more students enrolled,” Hines said.

HOW TO REGISTER FOR PRE-K

>> Carver Early Education Center: Open 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

>> Lamar Early Education Center: Open for registration from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

>> Blanton Elementary: Open for registration between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

>> Milam Elementary: Call 337-1561 and ask to speak to the principal about pre-K registration.