This from Lisa McNamara, Principal of the Octorara Primary Learning Center.
If you or someone you know is planning to send a child to kindergarten at Octorara in the Fall of 2012, that child can registered by attending one of our four Kindergarten Registration dates:
- Tuesday, April 17th 5:30-7:00 p.m.
- Wednesday, April 20th 9:30-11:00 a.m. & 1:00- 2:30 p.m.
- Thursday, April 26th 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Registration will take place in the Octorara Primary Learning Center lobby. To register the child must be age five by September 1, 2012 and will need the following:
- Proof of residence: Acceptable documentation includes: deed, lease, current utility bill, current credit card bill, property tax bill, vehicle registration, or driver’s license. Please note: If you are living in someone else’s home, you must provide a notarized Certificate of Multiple Occupancy Form.
- Verification of child’s birth certificate
- A copy of your child’s most recent physical and dental exams (completed within one year of the first day of school)
- Copy of immunization records: The state requires certain vaccinations in order for a child to attend kindergarten: Four doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) – 4th dose should be after the child’s 4th birthday, three doses of polio, three doses of hepatitis B, two doses of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) – first dose to be given after 1st birthday, and two doses of varicella (chicken pox) - given after age one or documentation of dates that your child has previously had chicken pox.
- If you have had any early intervention services or evaluations, please make sure the district has copies of the reports as well.
Octorara also welcomes registration for 2012-2013 first grade students who are new to the District at the dates and times listed above. To qualify, students must be six years old on or before September 1. The same registration forms and proofs of age, immunization, and residency are required.
Registration packets are available online www.octorara.k12.pa.us and will also be mailed to families prior to registration. Appointments may also be made by calling the registrar, Cheryl Todd at 610-593-8238, ext 3501.
During registration you will sign your child up for our kindergarten screening in May. New first grade students will be tested at a later date.
Per Dr. Newcome, the district pays $10, 441 per charter school kindergarten student. There are 17 students. If we brought those students back in it would cost us at most 1 teacher at $60,000, a difference of $110,000 . In the state of Pa kindergarten is not mandatory so why are we using tax payer money for non mandated items.
Good question Joe. Someone from the district should weigh in with a better answer than I can give. My gut is that Kindergarten is the great equalizer that without Kindergarten many students wouldn’t be ready for school and would lag behind all of their peers for the first several years of school assuming they ever caught up at all.
The one date for registration is incorrect, a typo. April 20th is not a Wednesday. I would assume the school meant April 18th? I would think they would proofread their documents prior to publishing? I am a parent of an incoming Kindergartener who will not make a decision on school choice until I know what OPLC will do with their scheduling. It frustrates and surprises me that they are accepting registrations when they do not even know what schedule they will have in place, or will they know by these April dates? No one can seem to answer that for me. Parents with children are not able to make final decisions until this is public knowledge, and programs like the YMCA cannot finalize their programs and costs until they know what OPLC will do. Its hard for parents/taxpayers to weigh costs of public school & additional child care vs. costs of full day programs offered at private & charter schools.
Thanks for pointing out the error Carie. I’ll see if the Primary Learning Center wants to make the correction and repost the corrected schedule.
Ken; That is all well and good but people are paying for pre -k care why can’t they pay for kindergarten? This should not be a burden to tax payers people who want there kids in kindergarten let them pay for it,who gave the school board the power to mandate kindergarten? The district could probably save a million dollars or more. Octorara being #1 in school taxes is something i could live without and they have the nerve to charge a 0.50 earned income tax on top of the outrageous millage rates.