By Matt Clevenger
PIQUA — Washington and Spring Creek Elementary Schools are preparing to begin kindergarten registration for the 2023-2024 school year, including all children who will be five years old on or before Aug. 1, 2023.
“We’re doing a whole new enrollment system,” Director of Student Services Mindy Gearhardt said. “We’ll be updating our website, getting information out to the public.”
Washington Elementary will host kindergarten registration events from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 15 and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 25. Spring Creek will host kindergarten registration events from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 18 and from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 22.
“During those times, you’ll have a thirty-minute block to get your kids enrolled online,” Gearhardt said. “You will have an opportunity then to bring in all the paperwork that you need, like the child’s birth certificate, proof of residency, your photo ID, updated immunizations.”
“We will be there to help adults get everything set up, so that they can enroll their child smoothly,” she said.
Members of the Piqua City Schools Board of Education discussed the registration events during their regularly scheduled meeting held on Thursday, Feb. 23.
In other business, board members also heard an update on the district’s plans for summer school programs this year.
“For summer school we’ve been looking at how to try to maximize our resources,” Director of K-6 Curriculum Teresa Anderson said.
The first session of summer school will be for third graders only. “Any student who is still at risk of not having a promotion score to go to fourth grade will need to attend summer school the four weeks in June,” Anderson said. “The week of June 26 is when we’re allowed to administer the third-grade reading assessment to students again, to give them that one last chance to be sure they can be promoted to fourth grade.”
Students in the Elevate Program will attend summer school from June through August at Piqua Jr. High school. Other K-6 and Jr. High classes will be held at Piqua Central Intermediate School in August.
“We still have a lot of details to work out yet, but that is the big picture of what we want to do this summer,” Anderson said. “As we move forward, those students who are recommended for summer school, their parents will be contacted.”
Board members also heard an update on summer programs at the high school from Curriculum Director Scott Bloom.
“Summer school for high school is a little bit different; it’s all about credit attainment,” Bloom said. “Kids can get caught up on credits that they are behind in, or they can get ahead.”
“There is no cost to students for summer school,” he said. “It’s a successful approach. I think we really give kids a good opportunity to get where they need to get by the end of the summer.”
The district will also offer enrichment programs from Bowling Green University. “Students in grades three through eight can sign up for those,” Anderson said. “That information will be sent home with students. It’s also going to be posted on our website.”
Board members also approved a change to the academic calendar for 2023, moving the day that students will return from spring break to Tuesday, April 9, to accommodate teacher training days required by the state.
Board members also honored Piqua Junior High School seventh-grader Jonathan Huelskamp for his performance at recent Spelling Bees.
“He went to the Michigan-Ohio Regional Qualifier, and qualified there,” Piqua Schools Superintendent Dwayne Thompson said. “If he qualifies after that one, he would then go to the national bee.”
“We’re rooting for him,” Thompson said. “That might be the farthest we’ve had a student go.”
Board members also heard an update on the Piqua High School musical, Mama Mia!, which will be held on Friday, March 25, and Saturday, March 26. Tickets for the musical will be available starting on March 1.
“We anticipate them going fast, so we want people to get on there right away and get those tickets,” Thompson said.
“We have an award-winning music department that is just phenomenal,” Thompson said. “I’ve seen some of the practices, and it’s going to blow you away.”
Board members’ next regularly scheduled meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 23.
