Lines to enroll at WRE last year. Photo by Colin Hildinger.
If you have friends with kids planning to attend Kindergarten at White Rock Elementary next year, you should probably advise them to get their track shoes ready. Richardson ISD officials have admitted there won’t be enough spaces for all the children expected to enroll in K-class next year. Not by a long shot.
Trustees and administrators discussed the issue last week as part of their dialog on Lake Highlands area overcrowding, and they say they’ll work on a plan soon for fairly enrolling as many new students as possible in the spring. No one wants to see hundreds of families camping out in tents on the WRE front lawn or to see lines winding around the building – a scene which last year made it onto social media and the evening news.
Kindergarten Round Up is traditionally held the first week of March.
RISD says they have not decided how they’ll handle enrollment in this unique case. Aside from “first come, first served” fairness, they are considering accepting Kindergarten siblings to keep families together.
Students who can’t be accommodated at White Rock will be overflowed into nearby schools, a process more complicated than it sounds. In a presentation to RISD trustees last week, Director of Special Projects Michael Freeman referred to the endeavor as a “moving target,” noting that students may wish to move with a sibling or may need transportation. No single nearby elementary is likely to have space enough to accommodate large numbers of incoming 5-year-olds, and the influx may not be temporary. Incoming students will be educated at their “overflow” school until first grade, when the new elementary school opens at White Rock Trail in 2018. Or not.
Opposition to the new school by White Rock homeowners and recent indication by the City of Dallas that it intends to deny construction approval could delay – or halt – opening of the school and force RISD officials to seek an alternative solution. In that case, RISD officials say, students who begin at an overflow school would matriculate there until LH overcrowding is resolved.
It’s not clear yet how many students will turn up to enroll, but it’s estimated that about three classrooms full may be turned away. This year, 3 sections of graduating 6th graders will make room for new Kindergartners. WRE currently has 6 sections of K and 8 sections of 1st graders.
Overcrowding is not unique to White Rock, and many other LH elementary schools are full – or very near full – particularly at certain grade levels. Though RISD has not settled on specific procedures, they say parents will be told at spring enrollment if their child has landed on a “wait list” for their grade. Specific school assignments won’t be made immediately, however, since spots often open up, rendering overflow unnecessary.
We will keep you updated here on the blog when RISD announces their enrollment plan for WRE.
