LCC adds section of preschool to deal with large enrollment

LAUREL – Laurel-Concord-Coleridge is making plans to accommodate for a larger than usual preschool enrollment for 2024-25.

LCC’s Board of Education members discussed a preschool enrollment and acceptance policy at its regular meeting last week and expect to give it the green light at next month’s meeting.

For the coming academic year, LCC will not need to turn away any of its 49 anticipated preschoolers by opening additional space and shifting a half-time teacher from the middle school to teach preschool, said Superintendent Jeremy Christiansen.

“We’ve seen this bubble coming for the last couple of years and anticipated it but had an interesting anomaly over the late spring where a handful of new families enrolled in the district and contacted us. Out of three families, unbelievably, each had preschool kids. One of them had two preschool kids for next year,” he said, which bumped up total enrollment over 40.

Under state rules, 20 is the maximum number of students in a preschool classroom.

Adding some complexity, a new state law enacted from LB 71, allows children not ready yet for kindergarten to enroll in another year of preschool. Prior to the new legislation, options were limited for families who had a student not yet ready for kindergarten but of age range for preschool, Christiansen said.

For 2024-25, a new half-day section of preschool will be opened for nine of the younger (3 year old) preschool students, Christiansen said.

While those modifications are being made for this year, administrators will monitor enrollment projections and utilize a new acceptance policy in future years if needed, Christiansen said.

The new policy outlines capacity and which groups will be prioritized for acceptance.

First priority will be given to those preschool students in the district required to receive preschool education such as those in special education.

Next, those students residing in the district not yet eligible to attend kindergarten would be accepted. Finally, those students who come from outside of the district would be enrolled until capacity is met.

“Option enrollment doesn’t address preschool and we wanted to make sure that was addressed it in this policy,” Christiansen said. “We would allow it but it’s not going to be top priority.”

Having to put children on a waitlist for preschool acceptance is difficult, Christiansen said.

“It’s not what we want to do,” he said. “It’s been a good conversation to have and it underscores the challenges we’ve had of inconsistency of class size. One year it’s 32-33, next year, 14. That’s hard on kids and teachers. It’s just a challenge.” Cell phones at school

Cell phone use by students in school continues to be a growing distraction.

After board discussion, the district’s policy on cell phone and personal electronic devices remains the same, however, enforcement will be more consistent for the coming year, Christiansen Students in kindergarten through eighth grade are able to have access to cellphones and other personal electronic devices before and after school. While high schoolers are able to access their cellphones before and after school, during lunch and during passing times between classes.

“Overall we are just going to double down on the consistency in application of the policy as it is across the district,” Christiansen said.

Administrators’ expectations at the middle and high schools will be for students to keep cellphones in lockers - not in backpacks being brought to the classroom, he said.

The current policy already outlines enforcement with subsequent consequences ranging from the device taken away from the student to suspension, with re-education about expectations along the way. School meals

At its last meeting, the board also approved a five-cent increase to breakfast prices and a 10-cent increase to lunch prices.

The board adjusts meal prices annually and as food prices increase so do school meals, Christiansen said.

“The federal meals program is not a money maker. Every year we have to subsidize with local general funds,” he said.

He said meal price increases are kept at a reasonable amount instead of a huge jump all at once. Prices are tracked across the state to stay comparable.

Student meal prices for the 2024-25 school year are: $2.30 for breakfast and $3.10 for lunch for kindergarten through fourth grade; and $2.40 for breakfast and $3.25 for lunch for grades 5-12. Adult meals will be $3.50 for breakfast and $4.55 for lunch.