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This year, the Lee County School District Student Enrollment office is allowing parents to email the required documentation to start the process for kindergarten pre-registration, which concludes Nov. 20.

Student Enrollment Executive Director Soretta Ralph said they usually have approximately 6,000 students enrolled in kindergarten each year. This year there are 5,789 kindergarten students enrolled in the Lee County School District.

Ralph said they hope for at least half of those parents to enroll their child ahead of time during the kindergarten pre-registration, which opened Sept. 28.

“It’s great for the district because we have an idea of where our numbers will be,” she said, adding that it is also convenient for the family as well.

New this year is the email option of all pre-registration documents, which Ralph said will help the district continue to practice social distancing and keep everyone safe.

Those who participate in the pre-registration will receive a preprinted application in their mailbox in January. Once that is received, parents have the opportunity to go online and rank their schools in the order of preference for School Choice during the Student Open Enrollment period.

The pre-registration is open for students who will turn 5 years old on, or before Sept. 1 of the upcoming year. Documents needed to pre-register include:

• Health examination, physical, within 12 months prior to registration

• Florida certification of immunization

• Proof of address

• Birth certificate

• Parent photo ID

• Registration paperwork, which can be found on the district’s website at https://bit.ly/2SsUrvO.

In addition to emailing the documentation to studentenrollment@leeschools.net, parents can also put the paperwork in the secure drop box that is located outside of the student enrollment office. They can be faxed, or mailed to the student enrollment office as well.

“We will follow up with them,” Ralph said of receiving the documents.

“Some parents still want to come in and we are happy to do that, too. We are still practicing social distancing,” Ralph said. “We were the first department at the district office to open to the public. We are encouraging them (parents) to submit it this way (through email). It saves time and it’s a lot quicker to hit send than it is to wait.”

The student enrollment office, 2855 Colonial Blvd., Fort Myers, is open from 9 a.m. to noon and again from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. It closes from noon to 1 p.m. for sanitizing.

She said it is up to the parent to provide custody paperwork. She said parents can provide the child’s Social Security card, but it is not a requirement in Florida to provide.

As far as immunizations, Ralph wanted to remind the community that the Health Department is extremely busy at this time and it might take two to four days to upload the information. The child’s pediatrician can also provide the child’s immunization record.

Parents are encouraged to visit the various school’s websites, give the school a call, or send the school an email, to obtain more information about the particular school.

She said scheduled walk throughs for elementary schools will not be held this year due to COVID-19.

“It’s not safe having a lot of people coming in and out and it’s hard to monitor,” Ralph said.

The pre-registration is a great time saver for families, Ralph said, adding it also gives parents the opportunity to link their child’s sibling and have their children in the same school.

“It’s an essential way in assisting families in keeping all of their children together,” Ralph said. “It’s an easy process and we want to make it that way.”

She said if parents have any questions they are welcome to email studentenrollment@leeschools.net.