Tina Launey’s daughter and Ingrid Dysinger’s son both attended preschool at Northside Learning Center, a day care in Chattanooga’s North Shore neighborhood that serves children 5 and under.
This fall, the 6-year-olds will return to face-to-face learning in Hamilton County Schools: one in first grade and one in kindergarten.
Both children were part of a “pre-K plus” program offered by the day care, where students attended preschool each day in class sizes of five or six, and a few of them enrolled in kindergarten through Hamilton County Schools’ virtual learning option, HCS at Home.
Launey’s daughter Hannah was enrolled in HCS at Home while attending the learning center, while Dysinger’s son took part in preschool but unenrolled from face-to-face kindergarten after the first week.
With difficulties surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and structuring work, school and other activities from home, kindergarten enrollment dropped nationwide and locally during the 2020-21 school year. For families unsure of virtual learning and skeptical of enrolling students face-to-face during the pandemic, new alternatives cropped up to make the most of the milestone school year.