Paynesville administrators recommend three kindergarten sections, will revisit if enrollment rises

The Paynesville Public School District superintendent presented updated enrollment and budget numbers and recommended maintaining three kindergarten sections for the coming year while reallocating the fourth kindergarten teacher to first grade to follow the cohort.

In the meeting packet the superintendent said, "as it stands today ... there were 55 students confirmed for kindergarten and although there are 77 on the list only five have been unaccounted for." She told trustees the district will monitor enrollment and "if we hit 65 we need to revisit the conversation in July," leaving the option to add a kindergarten position then. The recommendation, she said, is intended to preserve program flow without adding new positions at this time.

Administrators noted growing preschool numbers and said a stronger preschool program would improve future kindergarten enrollment predictions. The superintendent said staff have reviewed multi-age configurations and plan to watch mid-July counts before making any final staffing decisions.

The board was not asked for formal approval at the meeting; the discussion was framed as a recommendation and a planning step for future board action if counts change.