LPS sees record kindergarten enrollment

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By MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star

Lincoln Public Schools officials projected a record kindergarten class this year, but not this big a record.

Last week, officials counted 2,982 boys and girls starting their educational careers at LPS — nearly 100 more than projected.

That number is a moving target, particularly at the beginning of the year, and could change slightly again before the official fall membership count next week.

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Kindergarteners listen during their first day of class at Maxey Elementary School Aug. 20. (LJS file)

Kindergarteners listen during their first day of class at Maxey Elementary School Aug. 20. (LJS file)

But it should be close to that.

And that’s a lot of kids.

 It’s enough kids the district added six kindergarten teachers, including those at Roper, 2323 S. Coddington Ave., and Lakeview, 300 Capitol Beach Blvd., after school was under way .

“Business is good,” said Roper  Principal Dan Navratil. “They’re coming out of my ears.”

On Monday, Roper had 175 kindergartners, enough to warrant hiring an eighth kindergarten teacher last week.

Now, the school will create an eighth kindergarten class, reducing class size from 25 or 26 to 22 or 23.

Having 22 or 23 kindergartners in a class is doable, he said, but 26 was not.

“That’s too many for little children,” he said.

He attributes the growth at his school to growth in southwest Lincoln.

“I think the area’s growing and there’s a lot of young families there and we just have to grow with it,” he said.

Lakeview Elementary, while a smaller school, saw a similar jump from an expected kindergarten class of about 65 to 80.

Principal Sudie Bock said she hired a fourth teacher last week, called parents and talked with them during the curriculum night and found 19 families willing to switch classes. 

On Monday, the former music and art room became two kindergarten rooms. Each kindergarten class has between 19 and 21 students.

She said it’s working well.

“I was so pleased,” she said. “You would have thought it happened the first day of school.”

Bock speculated the economy is influencing kindergarten sizes to some extent, in part by growth in the city and in part by parents who may be opting to send their kids to all-day kindergarten a little earlier.

She said her teachers have  noted that more younger children are enrolled this year.

District policy says students must turn 5 by Oct. 5 to begin kindergarten. But some parents over the past few years have chosen to hold students — particularly boys — until they’re closer to 6.

 “I think we’ve passed the era when they’re redshirting their kids,” she said.

In February, LPS officials predicted that 2,888 kindergartners would kindergarten this fall.

That was a record number, topping other records in recent years.

In its 2008-09 budget, the district included money to hire 12 new elementary school teachers.

Half of those went to kindergarten, said Marilyn Moore, associate superintendent of instruction. That’s more than she’d anticipated.

Additional kindergarten teachers also went to Clinton, Huntington, Campbell and Rousseau, she said. The average kindergarten class has about 20 kids this year.

Moore said the district has been able to add teachers to accommodate the bigger numbers.

Keeping up with a growing district — while a good problem to have — will be challenging.

“The bigger concern is year after year, as these kids move forward and the classes behind them are as big,” she said.

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.