Kindergarten Enrollment Higher at St. Cloud Area Schools

(KNSI) – Even with a pandemic that caused unprecedented disruption in public schools, the number of kindergartners enrolled in District 742 is shooting higher.

Saint Cloud Area Schools Assistant Superintendent – Elementary Education Michael Rivard runs through the numbers. “This year during the 2021-22 school year we have 771 kindergarten students. In the 2020-21 school year we had about 776 students. And then the year before that, during the 2019-20 school year we had 742 students.”

Rivard says several initiatives are being employed at some, or all, of the seven elementary schools in the district. Two foreign language immersion programs are filled early in the enrollment process in January and February for the following fall. Rivard says the immersion programs promise students the opportunity to learn in an environment where they hear and learn lessons in either Chinese (Madison Elementary) or Spanish (Clearview Elementary).

The Kindergarten Play Initiative has been implemented across the district. “So, our kindergarten teachers are using guided play as they go through math and reading instruction stay active and engaged in their learning,” says Rivard.

Physical fitness has become an increasingly important component of elementary school learning. The Finnish model, which has taken hold in Minnesota in ways big and small given the immigration rush that occurred in the late 19th century, proscribes 15-minute breaks each hour. Rivard doesn’t invoke the Finnish model by name but he says the guided play is in addition to consistent physical activity during the day.

Enrollment is open and runs into the summer, but Rivard says the district prefers parents to let his staff know about their intention to place their kids in school as early as possible. Preschool is also offered for ages three and four. The total enrollment for both ages is 890 students.

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