The Camden City School District hosted an enrollment fair to increase preschool enrollment, distribute laptops to kindergarteners and provide health screenings, immunizations and reading kits. Preschool enrollment declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to new efforts to boost enrollment.
Camden school district recruiters have been going door to door this summer to encourage families to enroll their 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds in pre-K. Camden City Schools Superintendent Katrina McCombs said, “Over 2,000 seats are available for three- and four-year-old students to enter pre-K free, absolutely free pre-K.”
“There are such good long-term benefits, with evidence that research shows us that children carry throughout the years and sometimes into adulthood, mainly in terms of lifelong skills like collaboration, creativity, social skills, and obviously some academic skills that pursue into the early elementary grades,” said Zeynep Isik-Ercan, a professor and department chair of early childhood education at Rowan University.
