Putnam County’s Pre-K enrollment for the fall is nearly 350. Normally this time of year it is over 400.
Curriculum Supervisor Jill Ramsey said she believes parents are hesitant to send their four-year-olds to school because of the pandemic.
“It’s lower than normal but, however, a lot of times we will pick up kids after fall break,” Ramsey said. “With the situation the way that it is we actually this year, with COVID, we actually offered parents the same option as our K-12 students, and that would be to participate remotely.”
Ramsey said the Putnam County School System accepts Pre-K applications year round. She said the program is important for children in terms of social skills and language comprehension.
Currently the Pre-K program has 18 remote students, and the school system plans to maintain that number. Ramsey said because the program is income based lower-income applications are accepted first.
If parents are uncomfortable with enrolling their child in Pre-K, Ramsey said constant communication and engagement is important for their child’s language and social growth.
“The only thing that maybe would be a barrier for kids is if they live in an environment where they’re not getting that exposure and they don’t have a caregiver that’s continuously working with them or reading to them or speaking to them. I think the kids who are behind are from the environments where they’re just not getting that exposure.”
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