Kindergarten Round-Ups Scheduled for Brighton Elementary Schools

Parents of future kindergarten students should mark their calendars.

Brighton Area Schools have set the date for their Kindergarten Round-Ups for March 5 and March 6.

Kindergarten Round-Ups are dates where the district invites future kindergarten students and their parents - primarily their parents - to come in and sign up for school in the fall.

"We bring them in and run them through our programming and informational video," Brighton Superintendent Greg Gray said. "We have them meet our kindergarten teachers and they talk about the kindergarten experience. It's kind of like an orientation. Then they fill out all the paperwork at that point and that way we can more accurately staff for those classes over the summer."

Spencer Elementary and Hawkins Elementary will hold their round ups on March 5 while Hilton Elementary and Hornung Elementary will have theirs on March 6. Both events will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Online registration is also available. The website contains all registration information parents need to complete and bring to Round Up. Parents should also bring their child's birth certificate, current immunization record, vision screening information and proof of residency, such as a utility bill. 

In addition, the state legislature passed a bill gradually pushing back the kindergarten start date beginning this fall. 

Previously, children were able to start kindergarten in the fall as long as they turned 5 years old by Dec. 1.

Instead children must be 5 years old by Nov. 1 this fall; by Oct. 1 for the 2014-15 school year and by Sept. 1 for the 2015-16 school year.

The dates were changed, according to the Michigan Education Association who supported the bill, because some 4-year-olds are not socially ready to start school and can cause class disruptions.

What do you think about the new kindergarten start dates?