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MIAMI-DADE SCHOOLS, EARLY LEARNING COALITION MIAMI – Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) and the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe are preparing to help parents and students who may not have followed the state’s multi-step process to register for and enroll in the new Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) program. That procedure requires parents first to demonstrate their children’s eligibility by proving their ages and addresses, then to take an eligibility certificate to the school or private early childhood provider they choose to enroll. “Because this is the first year of Voluntary Pre-K and because parents had to follow several steps to enroll in a class, we anticipate that some parents may arrive on the first day of school with a child ready to learn, but not actually enrolled,” said Joseph Garcia, M-DCPS Chief Communications Officer. “We’ll do all that we can to get that child quickly into a high-quality pre-K program in a school or a private provider.” Parents who are seeking to register and enroll in VPK for the first time will be directed to the nearest of 18 registration sites around the county being manned by the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe and Child Development Services. A list of those sites is available at www.vpkhelp.org. Parents who have registered and have the state-issued eligibility certificate, but who have not actually enrolled at a school, will be permitted to enroll in their neighborhood school if space is available. As most schools have filled their pre-K classes, parents will be given a list of the more than 500 private pre-K providers nearby who also can enroll children in the new VPK program. A list of Miami-Dade public schools with pre-kindergarten programs that are full and no longer accepting new registrants is available on the web at www.dadeschools.net. Parents who have an eligibility certificate and try to enroll at a school other than their neighborhood school will be directed back to that school. If parents are interested in enrolling their child in a VPK provider outside of their neighborhood boundaries, the District can provide parents with a list of private pre –K providers within the area requested. Additionally, principals are being instructed to care for any four-year-old who is not enrolled who arrives at school without an adult until an appropriate caregiver can be contacted to pick up the child. At that point, school officials will help the family take the appropriate next steps to register and enroll. Both M-DCPS and the Early Learning Coalition have VPK hotlines that parents can call for more information – (305) 995- PREK (7735) for the District and (305) 644-4046 for the Coalition. ### 05-LJG/014 |
