By Neil Corbett – Maple Ridge News
Last year, parents wanting to get their children into the kindergarten French Immersion program at Pitt Meadows elementary camped out at the school the night before registration.
This year, there was a more dignified process, as the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district went online with kindergarten registration.
Parents were able to log onto the district website in advance of the registration day for a practice run, to ensure they had all the information necessary prior to the first-come, first-served online signup. On computer, it can be determined down to the millisecond.
The big day was Jan. 15 at noon. Parents of kindergartners were ready to go, with forms filled out and their fingers poised above the “return” button on their keyboards. When the clock struck noon, classes started to fill up.
That Pitt Meadows kindergarten class was full by 12:02. Laity View’s class, which is also French immersion, filled in about five minutes.
The district also offers other choice programs, such as the environmental school, which were popular.
Computers at school and public libraries were designated for kindergarten registration, and made available to parents who didn’t have other access to an online computer.
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