D. 202 to offer limited full-day kindergarten again in 2020-2021

District 202 will hold a computerized, random lottery from January 13-24, 2020 to pick 408 students for its limited, full-day kindergarten program next school year.

This will be the fifth year that District 202 has provided the limited full-day kindergarten program as it moves toward a plan to provide full-day kindergarten for all eligible children.

District 202 parents will be able to apply online for the lottery starting at 7 a.m. Monday, January 13, 2020, through 5 p.m. Friday, January 24, 2020.

The actual lottery will be held at 10 a.m. January 31, 2020. Families will be notified no later than February 1, 2020 whether their child has been accepted or put on a waiting list.

The computer will assign numbers to eligible students, then sort and randomly pick 24 students at each of the district’s 17 elementary schools.

The online application will be posted on the front page of the district website (www.psd202.org), all 17 elementary websites and the website for the Bonnie McBeth Learning Center.

The District 202 community identified full-day kindergarten as a priority through the 2011 Strategic Planning process.

However, the district does not have enough space in its 17 elementary schools to accommodate the students. About 1,500 District 202 children are expected to be eligible for kindergarten this fall.

Therefore, District 202 implemented a limited program in 2016-17 as a first step towards the goal of full-day kindergarten for all.

The Board of Education in April 2019 approved building an 18^th elementary school as part of a larger plan to create enough space district-wide to provide full-day kindergarten to all eligible students. Construction and adjusting district support systems will take about two years.

The full-day and half-day kindergarten curriculum is the same. However, teachers get more time and can incorporate more play-based learning in the full-day program.

Please note:

***WITHOUT EXCEPTION, all students must be five years old on or before September 1, 2020, to attend kindergarten, per state law.

• Each family can complete only one lottery application.  Families with multiple kindergarten students will complete one application including the names of all prospective students.  This application will create individual lottery entries for each child.
• Once an application is submitted, families will receive an email confirmation. If no email is received, they must call 815-577-4026 before 5 p.m. on January 24, 2020.
• Families without Internet access may register online at their child’s home school on any regular school day from 9 a.m. January 13, 2020 to the end of the school day on January 24, 2020.
• The actual lottery will be held on January 31, 2020. All applicants will be notified whether their child has been accepted or put on the waiting list no later than February 1, 2020.
• Students chosen for this program must complete the registration process by March 27, 2020 or they will lose their slot.
• Full-day kindergarten tuition will be $100 per month in addition to the one-time $90 kindergarten registration fee. The $100 monthly tuition will help offset the cost of the additional staff and resources needed to offer the full-day kindergarten program.

More information, including an updated “Frequently Asked Questions” is posted under “Announcements” on the District 202 web site (www.psd202.org); all 17 elementary school web sites, and the web site for the Bonnie McBeth Learning Center.