Registration continues, classes start on Aug. 18

By Donnie A. Lucas

With online enrollment hovering at 90 percent earlier this week, school officials are still looking for 30-35 more students to register before the first day of classes next Wednesday, Aug. 18.

Overall enrollment for all grade levels stood at 460 students on Monday, with about 10 more enrollments expected at the secondary campus and 16 more at the elementary.

“We are hoping to reach our goal of 500 students, which would be about 10 more than last year,” director of students services Leigh Lowe said. “There are actually about 40 names on our list who still need to register based on last year’s attendance, but we know a few of  those that we haven’t heard from probably will not be returning.”

Lowe said that while the secondary numbers are holding steady, lower numbers are being reported at the pre-school level.

“Elementary has traditionally had a larger enrollment than secondary, but we promoted a large group of sixth graders to the other campus this year while having small pre-school numbers,” she said. “We only have 10 students in pre-school right now and 16 in Head Start.”

She urged parents of three or four-year-olds to contact the elementary if they have not enrolled a child in either of the programs.

Both pre-school and Head Start students have to qualify to the programs, which includes meeting financial guidelines or qualifying for special services such as ESL or special education.

Anyone needing more information should contact the elementary campus at 325-762-3384.

Lowe added that administrators are pleased with the over 90 percent enrollment rate since all parents had to start the online enrollment process using the Ascender Parent Portal this year.

The district reported 491 students on the first day of classes last year and 522 on the first day of classes in 2019. However, the number for 2018 was 483. 

Elementary 

Registration Process

Parents of elementary students are asked to contact the school immediately if they haven’t started the online process.

“We can talk them through what needs to be done, or they can come up to the school to let us help them,” PEIMS secretary Lillian Wheeler said. “It still has to be completed online, but we are here to help.”

She added that parents should not attempt to use a smart phone to attend the online process.

“We have had problems with people trying to register using their phones, so if they don’t have a computer at home, they can come up to our office and we will walk them through it,” Wheeler said. “Also, just because a student attended school here last year doesn’t mean they are automatically registered.”

Wheeler said she has identified at least 16 students she knows are returning, and she planned to start contacting those parents on Wednesday (yesterday).

One of the reasons that all enrollments must be completed online is to have parents acknowledge school rules and policies, as well as update information such as cell phone numbers.

Secondary Registration

While fewer numbers are expected to still register at the secondary level, counselor Michaela Bradford said that the process still starts with the online registration.

“Everyone still needs complete the online registration before coming up to pick up schedules and computers,” she said. “At this point, I will be able to give them their schedules after they complete the online part, but we aren’t issuing computers again until Monday evening from 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. during the open house. Otherwise, they will have to wait until school starts to get their computers.”

All students are reminded that a $25 computer use fee must be paid before a computer will be issued.

The counselor added that there have been “quite a few” new students register.

Students wanting to make changes to their schedules need to come to the counselor’s office and fill out request forms and drop them in the slot on the counselor’s door.

Bradford said that she would then contact the students to come to her office to make changes.

“All changes have to be made in the first five days of school by Aug. 24,” she said. “So don’t wait until the last minute if you know you want to make a change.”