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Online kindergarten registration traffic heavy

School District 57's first attempt at district-wide online kindergarten registration went off without a hitch.

School District 57's first attempt at district-wide online kindergarten registration went off without a hitch.

Close to 700 registrations were processed on the opening day Wednesday and the feedback superintendent Brian Pepper is getting from schools is parents like the new system, designed to eliminate the need for parents to line up overnight to register their kids.

"We're projecting around 850-1,000 kindergarten students and we have a good number of those registered now, which is great," said Pepper. "From our perspective, things went very well. In the first 15 minutes [after the 9 a.m. start] we had 300-plus registrations.

"Some of our elementary secretaries have indicated parents coming in with their confirmation information were very pleased. They found it very easy."

Schools have made allowances for parents who do not have access to their own computers and school staff members were available at the school to help them through the registration process.

Parents are still required to bring to the school a completed registration form along with confirmation of address and a birth certificate for the process to be complete. The deadline for that is Friday, Feb. 15. If parents fail to do that, they would would have to reapply for that kindergarten seat.

Six of the city's elementary schools -- Heritage, Edgewood, Hart Highlands, College Heights, Vanway, and Glenview -- have their kindergarten capacities capped, and Pepper was expecting a high demand for kindergarten seats in those schools. If the demand exceeds capacity, which would require finding a spot at another school, the principal of that full kindergarten classroom will help find an alternate seat in a nearby school.

Students can be registered in the catchment school or a choice program. If capacity is exceeded, priority will be given to students who have siblings who attended that school in the previous year and will be attending the same school in the upcoming year. If there are more siblings than can be accommodated, seats will be awarded through a lottery system administered by the superintendent.

If there's a shortage of capacity at a choice program, priority placement will be given to siblings of existing students in the school, followed in descending priority by students from designated catchment areas, then students from another catchment. Any remaining students who don't fit the other categories will be picked by lottery.

Lotteries are conducted on the first day of registration by the principal and the chair of the school's parent advisory council. Names of students in the priority category are placed in an envelope, with twins or triplets names written on one piece of paper. Names are drawn one at a time and recorded in the order they are drawn. Any students whose names are not accepted will be put on a wait list. Parents will be notified about their child's registration acceptance or wait list status as soon as possible after the draw.

Students who want to attend a school out of their catchment area must first register in the catchment school, then apply for a transfer. The deadline for filing transfers is Feb. 23. Some allowances will be made for students who move into the catchment areas after the out-of-catchment area transfers are complete.