2020-21 Kindergarten Round-up

Greetings Families,
It is certainly a neat time of year when we start planning for a new crew of Kindergarten students to join us in the fall. As a school community, we cherish the opportunity to welcome new families in and continue to build relationships with current families that are sending another little one to school. It is an exciting time!
Normally, Kindergarten Round-up consists of an informational evening session for parents of incoming kindergarten students. At this meeting, our kindergarten teachers share what the day in the life of a kindergarten student looks like. Our transportation director, Laurie Groth, speaks about bussing and when bus routes and bussing information is shared. Our community education director, Michelle Carlson, speaks about before/after school care and talks about clubs that are available to students and how that process works. I speak to enrollment and how that process works regarding resident and open enrolled students. Given the current situation, we are unable to hold this evening session so we have created a portion of our website to do our best to provide you with the information you need. 
One of the main questions asked involves registration and will my child get into kindergarten. We will be gathering your registration paperwork which is due back to the school on April 30th. Please remember to provide a copy of your child’s birth certificate. Once we receive this paperwork, we will begin registering our resident families first. Our goal is to fill 4 sections of kindergarten with 22 students in each class for a total of 88 students. We will add the resident students and then add the open enrolled students to fill the grade level. The first open enrolled students that will be added will be based on sibling preference (have siblings that are enrolled) and staff preference (have a parent that works for the district). All other open enrolled students will be added once these two groups have been enrolled. We will hope to let all families know if they are enrolled or not by May 15. It comes down to numbers and most often then not we are able to enroll all prospective students. 
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Brian Harker, Elementary Principal 218-879-3361 ext 607, [email protected]
Julie Pelletier, Elementary Secretary 218-879-3361 ext 608, [email protected]
Laurie Groth, Transportation Director 218-879-4302, [email protected]
Michelle Carlson, Community Ed. Director 218-879-4038, [email protected]
Thanks for your interest in Esko Schools! We are thrilled to have your family join our school community.
Sincerely,
Brian Harker