Revised pre-K drawing to be Monday

The new drawing for children registered in Columbia County's pre-kindergarten lottery will be held Monday.

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In previous years, drawings for pre-K slots were conducted at the schools holding those classes across several days. Officials believe the scattered procedures led to too much confusion among parents.

Now, the lotteries for all the schools are consolidated into a single event to be held at the Board of Education office on Hereford Farm Road.

The drawing starts at 8 a.m., with each pre-K school taken in turn, according to its alphabetic rank, said Michele Sherman, the school system's director of elementary education.

Other changes made to the drawing process included the assignment of a four-digit identification number to each registered pupil, double-checking that parents registered at their zoned schools, and officials making sure none of the registration cards is bent or folded.

In 2007, the lottery process came under fire when some parents accused some school officials of marking registration cards, making them easy to spot during the drawing process to favor some children's chances of getting coveted public school pre-K spots.

Sherman said principals and system administrators were checking to make sure no cards were folded or marked before the Monday drawing.

The results from the drawing will be posted Tuesday on the schools' Web sites, in school offices and on each schools' front doors so parents can check to see whether their child is chosen.

Parents need to look for the identification number given their children during the registration process.

Typically, about 100 pupils register for each of the 20 slots in the county's 20 pre-K classrooms. All but three elementary schools -- Stevens Creek, Riverside and Blue Ridge -- offer a pre-K program.

Winning pupils residing in Stevens Creek Elementary's zone will attend pre-K classes at River Ridge Elementary. Riverside pupils go to Greenbrier Elementary and Blue Ridge pupils will attend Evans Elementary.