Kindergarten numbers concern school board

Many P.E.I. parents seem to have failed to register their children for kindergarten next year, says the Eastern School District.

The school board is trying to determine how many extra children it has to accommodate next year, when kindergarten moves into the school system. Registration has already been held for next fall, but board officials think the final number registered is more than 200 students short of what it should be.

"We need to know exactly how many kids are coming into each school so we know how much space we're going to need," said district superintendent Sandy MacDonald.

"We need to know how many teachers we're going to need. And we need to know that for how many special students we're going to have in there, exceptional students that are going to need support. So we need to know the numbers as soon as we can for a variety of reasons."

Board officials are planning another registration day and a public education campaign to stress to parents the importance of getting the correct numbers.