Lakota Local Schools lays out kindergarten readiness tips, staggered start and supports

Emily Herman, Lakota Local Schools K-6 curriculum director, and Becky Franco, principal of Hopewell Early Childhood School, hosted a virtual kindergarten readiness session beginning at 6 p.m., offering practical steps families can take over the summer and outlining school schedules, assessments and supports.

The session focused first on social and independence skills that teachers and the district say help children succeed on day one. "Can your child separate from the primary caregiver without anxiety?" Herman asked, urging parents to give children practice in playgroups, library programs and district events. She recommended practicing self-help tasks such as using the restroom independently, zipping and buttoning clothes, and shoe-tying so children can manage classroom routines.

Herman and Franco emphasized play and language-building activities: talking through meal preparation, singing rhymes for phonological awareness, and games such as I Spy to practice vocabulary and listening. "If we can speak it, we can write it," Herman said, framing language as foundational to later reading and comprehension.

Franco described how Lakota phases in kindergarten to help students adjust and give teachers more time to observe and balance classrooms. She said the district will use a staggered start with last names A–L beginning Aug. 13 and M–Z on Aug. 14 to allow two-teacher pairings and smaller groups during the first days.

On class sizes and assessments, Franco said Lakota's board policy targets kindergarten classes of about 22 to 25 students. She also listed the assessments families should expect at the start of the year: the statewide kindergarten readiness assessment, DIBELS for early literacy fluency, and MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) to monitor growth across grades. "We administer DIBELS," Franco said, "and the MAP assessment helps us understand where students start in the fall and how they grow."

The district also outlined daily logistics. Franco said typical kindergarten hours at many Lakota schools are roughly 9:05 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; lunch periods last about 25 minutes with time to clean up, and recess is approximately 20 minutes near lunchtime. She encouraged parents to practice opening containers and managing lunchboxes so children can use meal time efficiently.

Safety and support services were a regular topic: Herman described Lakota's Safety Village, a free, drop-off summer program for incoming kindergarteners at Freedom Elementary with two-hour class sessions in weeklong blocks (maximum 20 students), taught by local police, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and bus drivers. Franco outlined school-based supports including full-time school counselors, mental-health therapist referrals when needed, a full-time school nurse in every building to handle medications and immunizations, and a visible school resource officer on campus for safety and relationship-building.

Both presenters pointed families to resources posted on the district website — including phonics charts, cutting practice, online reading materials and local library programs — and encouraged early registration so families receive school communications. "If you are not yet registered, it's okay — but I would encourage you to go ahead and register," Franco said, noting that earlier registration helps schools communicate ahead of the fall.

The district plans to post the session slides and video on its website for families who could not attend. Herman and Franco closed the hour by inviting follow-up questions via the Q&A feature and by email, and thanked participants for joining the Lakota Local Schools community.