Forest Park schools have the right idea with pre-school program

With all eyes on District 91’s enrollment declines, here’s good news: Half-day pre-school is bursting at the seams. In fact, there is a waiting list of 20 children.

Here’s why this is important: The earlier kids start in school and the better the quality of the program, the more success children have in the primary school years. In creating its own feeder system, District 91 has increased its chances of bringing these youngsters straight into kindergarten and first grade, which hopefully will gradually hike enrollment.

Finally we’d note that after notable declines in enrollment in recent years, that the district starts this year down just two students in K-8 from a year back. Let’s hope that from a stable start that enrollment begins to grow.