As school districts across Kent County looked at new ways of doing old things this fall, the staff at Kelloggsville Public Schools considered the best and safest ways to register both new and returning students.
They settled on a drive-thru event for returning families and an in-person event with safety restrictions for new families. Kelloggsville is starting back on Aug. 24 with both face-to-face and online options for its K-12 students with about 35% of its students planning to start the year online, according to Jeff Owen, the KPS director of instruction.
He said Rocket Registration is an important event. It’s both a chance for families to update their enrollment paperwork and a time for social connection as normally KPS will serve breakfast, lunch or dinner to families and will have community groups present to assist families in need.
“This year,” he said, “obviously we had to make significant changes to the event due to the pandemic. We asked the parents of our returning students to utilize a drive-through registration process. As each parent pulled up, they were handed a form containing information we had on file. The parents remained in their car, made updates, turned in the forms and were on their way.”
On hand with big smiles to greet returning families in their cars were Kelloggsville teachers and staff members, many clad in colorful shirts to help families feel welcomed.
One such staffer was high school counselor David Moncada who said it was great to see and connect with students and their families, learn how things were going for them and give them a word of encouragement.
He added: “I also wanted them to see how excited I was to start school again. Rocket Registration is an exciting event for me.”
