“We knew it was the perfect fit for our child,” says Stacy Stine, a District 742 parent, describing the school district in which she
enrolled her kindergartner this past school year.
The Stines moved from Sartell to St. Cloud, and they chose to open enroll their child at Oak Hill Community School after speaking with other families and friends that were in the district.
Stine found herself at The Welcome Center to open enroll into Oak Hill. There was indeed a waiting list, but the Stines received a quick response from The Welcome Center letting them know their daughter, Addison, was enrolled.
By the time the Stine’s son, Everett, was a kindergartner, she again visited The Welcome Center to open enroll her son and found the process was much the same as it would be for any newcomer enrolling in kindergarten. This time, however, she knew her son would be attending Oak Hill because her daughter was already enrolled at Oak Hill.
Like many parents, the Stines wanted to be prepared for kindergarten, so they attended the annual Kindergarten Bus Transportation Open House to allow Everett a chance to ride on the bus and learn all the bus safety rules prior to starting kindergarten.
The Stines also registered Everett into KinderCamp, a camp held at some of the district elementary schools to help prepare incoming kindergartners and parents as to what to expect on the first few days of kindergarten.
“One of the things I love is the KinderCamp [at Oak Hill],” says Stine. “It is four days at the end of summer for two hours each morning. The kids get to know the school, their teachers, where the bathrooms are and have fun doing activities. It really seems to lessen the nerves.”
Everett started kindergarten as a leader in his class. He knew his ABCs and 123s. However, not all kindergartners starting the school year share the same academic levels.
Jeffrey Wucherer was Everett’s kindgergarten teacher and is a recent recipient of WEM’s Outstanding Teacher Awards for ethics in education.
Stine can’t say enough good things about Wucherer.
“I volunteered once a week in the classroom and it was really neat to see how they [kindergartners] progressed from not knowing how to read,” says Stine. “He [Wucherer] did a great job of keeping Everett challenged. By the time Everett finished kindergarten, he was reading at a third to fourth grade reading level.”
If you were to ask Everett about his kindergarten year, he’d tell you that he had a lot of fun, really loved his teacher and made a lot of new friends.
The Stines love St. Cloud Area School District and are St. Cloud proud!
