SAN ANTONIO – Enrollment for pre-Kindergarten classes in the San Antonio area dropped this school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This week we do have our pre-K roundup. We have staff available that are enrolling children,” said Helen Ramos, principal at Barrera Veterans Elementary School in the Somerset Independent School District.
There’s a big push this week at Somerset ISD to register students for pre-K.
“They can pick up the packet and they can drop it off. They can sit in their car, fill out the application,” Ramos said.
Ramos said school staff have created flyers and posted information on social media about enrollment starting up.
“We noticed it here in our own district in Somerset, that the numbers were declining or when we enrolled kids in the fall, and it was significant for us,” Ramos said.
Ramos said some families did not enroll their children for pre-K this school year because of safety concerns.
At Barrera Veterans Elementary, in the 2019-20 school year 89 students enrolled in pre-K, but only 49 children enrolled in the 2020-21 school year.
Other districts in the San Antonio area also reported a decline in enrollment.
At Northeast ISD, 1,926 pre-K students enrolled in the 2019-20 school year compared to 1,181 in the 2020-21 school year.
Ramos wants parents to know that it’s safe to bring their children back to school.
“We have little bulldog paws throughout the hallway so that children learn how to space themselves when they’re walking in line. We are constantly handwashing. We use sanitizers,” Ramos said.
To learn more about the Somerset ISD pre-K program, click here.
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