JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Parents will no longer have to line up before sunrise to register their public school students for Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) Duval County.
Duval County Public Schools launched an online lottery system last week that parents can use to register their children for VPK for the 2020-2021 school year.
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The lottery system comes in response to high demand for VPK enrollment that last year resulted in parents lining up at 3 a.m. at some schools to try and secure a spot.
“To alleviate the parents camping out and all the overcrowding at the schools, we thought this would be the best solution,” said Sonya McSwain, Director Early Childhood Education.
Like the district’s process for Magnet and Special Transfer Option schools, all applications for the VPK lottery will be online.
Parents will need to go online and create a parent account. Once account has been approved, the application will appear under the form section of their parent portal.
The lottery will be held the first week in April and parents will find out if their child was accepted, or wait listed, in mid-April.
Over 1600 seats are available in the program with the number of seats varying for each school, McSwain said, and children must be age 4 on or before Sept. 1, 2020 to enroll in fall program.
About 100 parents have already started the enrollment process, McSwain said.
Parents have until 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 29 to complete the application.
The school district will be holding a workshop at the district office Wednesday at 6 p.m. and Thursday at 10 a.m. to answer questions about the new lottery system. Parents can register for the workshop on the district’s website.