The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) has opened its pre-enrollment window for Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) for the 2024-2025 school year.
Children who turn four by Sept. 1, 2024, are eligible for what the state now considers the first year of school.
The program is optional and allows the youngest students a head start before entering kindergarten.
Cameron Hupp is a veteran teacher at Field Elementary in Clairemont. She works with a co-teacher in the school's dual immersion classroom.
Their 4-year-old students are learning in English and Spanish with some sign language mixed in too.
“We know that the attention span for a 4-year-old is about 15 minutes. So, if we do something academic then we have to have a movement break or we do something more play-based," Hupp said.
UTK students across the district attend a full day of school on the same schedule as older elementary students.
The California program is in its second year of rollout, designed to add more 4-year-old children every year.
In San Diego Unified that means an additional 300 seats and at least 15 more classes added next year district-wide.
Signing up children will be more convenient for parents who can do it by going to their neighborhood school. No trips to the district headquarters required or long waits on the phone — things that Santos Gonzalez, SDUSD director of Early Learning, said can be difficult for some families.
"They can rest assured the enrollment process is starting at the school site. They can get all their questions answered by the staff at their home schools," Gonzalez said.
Families can go in-person to their neighborhood school and complete the UTK enrollment packet. If the school of residence becomes full, families will be offered enrollment at the next closest site with space available.
