Kindergarten Screening & Registration | 2025-2026

Parent Orientation Night is an informational meeting for parent/guardian(s) of children who live in the Pierre School District and plan to enroll their child in Kindergarten at Buchanan, Jefferson, or Kennedy Elementary School for the 2025-2026 school year. Parent/Guardian(s) are encouraged to attend the meeting to gain knowledge of Kindergarten readiness, immunization requirements, and to meet Elementary Principals. 

• Please see the School District Boundary Maps below to determine which school Parent Orientation Night you should attend.

• The meeting is for parents only.  

• The meeting will last approximately 1 hour.

Buchanan Elementary School Parent Orientation Night
Date:  Tuesday, February 25th  
Time:  5:30 PM
Location:  Buchanan Elementary Commons @ 100 N. Buchanan Ave, Pierre SD

Jefferson Elementary School Parent Orientation Night
Date:  Tuesday, February 25th 
Time:  5:30 PM
Location:  Jefferson Elementary Library @ 900 North Poplar Ave, Pierre SD

Kennedy Elementary School Parent Orientation Night
Date: Tuesday, February 25th  
Time:  5:30 PM
Location:  Kennedy Elementary Commons @ 2306 Brookstone Loop, Pierre SD

St. Joseph  School Parent Orientation Night
Date:  Monday, February 24th
Time:  5:30 PM
Location:  St. Joseph School McGuire Hall @ 210 E. Broadway Ave, Pierre SD

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Screening Scheduler 

The Screening Scheduler will be open on February 13th, and closed at 12PM on March 28th.  Please use this Screening Scheduler to book a time for your Kindergarten student's screening.  If an email address and cell phone number are provided, you will receive an email and text confirmation of your screening date and time.  You will also receive an email reminder 24 hours before your child's scheduled screening. 

For English speaking families, please use the following URL to book a time for your child's screening.

Screening Scheduler - English

For Spanish speaking families that may need assistance during screening, please use the following URL to book a time for your child's screening. If you need assistance booking a screening time, please reach out to Missy Slaathaug at missy.slaathaug@k12.sd.us.

Screening Scheduler - Spanish

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Online Registration  

The Pierre School District has implemented an online registration for parents/guardians with students that are new to the district.  The registration works best on a tablet or on a computer.  If you do not have access to one, you can complete the registration at your child's school.

Parents/guardians that complete online registration of their child this Spring will still need to go through the online student verification through Infinite Campus Parent Portal this summer when it opens up July 1st.  You will simply be verifying your census data, and making any necessary changes, at that time.  

Online Registration - Click Here

Student Registration Tutorial - Click Here

The video will walk parents through the process of registering your child for Kindergarten through our online registration system. 

If you have any further questions regarding Online Registration for Kindergarten, please call or email:

• Jeff Hegge
  Pierre School District Infinite Campus Specialist
  605-773-7305
  jeff.hegge@k12.sd.us

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South Dakota Codified Law 13-28-7.1 (Rev. 2016) requires that any pupil entering school or an early childhood program in this state shall, prior to admission, be required to present to school authorities certification from a licensed physician that the child has received, or is in the process of receiving, adequate immunization against poliomyelitis, diphtheria, pertussis, rubeola (measles), rubella, mumps, tetanus, meningitis and varicella (chickenpox), according to the recommendations of the State Department of Health.

This law applies to ALL children entering a South Dakota school district for the first time. This would include children in early intervention programs, preschool, as well as kindergarten through twelfth grade. Children under 4 need to be age-appropriately immunized.

For more information, or questions, on minimum immunization requirements for kindergarten through twelth grade students, please visist the South Dakota Department of Health's website.

We will need a copy of your child's immunization record on file at his or her school. Please bring their immunization card with you on screening day. If you do not have a record at home please request a copy of your child's immunization records from your doctor, or contact the South Dakota Department of Health, Immunization Program by phone at 1-800-592-1861, and bring it in on screening day. Failure to comply with this will result in exclusion from school until immunization requirements are met.

• Kindergarten Vaccination Requirements - PDF | Spanish - PDF

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Children are ready to do different things at different ages.  Part of being ready to do things comes from their growing older, but in some ways, parents can help children to be ready.  Being ready for elementary school is very important because children will do better in school all along if they get a good start.

1. Does your child show physical readiness?

   • Can he/she use eyes and hands together?  Is his/her eyesight good?

   • Does he/she hear well?

   • Is the speech understandable to others?  Does the child know enough words to express himself/herself well?

   • Is his/her general health good?

   • Does he/she have good physical coordination of large and small muscles

2. Does your child show mental readiness?

   • Can he/she memorize short poems, songs, fingerplays, tell you about pictures, rhyming words or other things?

   • Has he/she been read to and is there an interest shown in books and stories?

   • Has he/she some idea of likeness and differences?

   • Does he/she look at books, etc. from left to right?

   • How large is his/her vocabulary?

   • Does he/she get the main idea of a story-can the child retell it?

   • Does he/she know his/her full name and address, know colors, have some idea of numbers up to 10, have some beginning ideas of time?

3. Does your child show emotional readiness for school?

   • Is he/she happy and well-adjusted with other children?

   • Can he/she wait his/her turn and share materials, follow directions, accept limits and routines, accept new things, people, places, accept reasonable adult authority, stick to a task until it is completed, do things in a group?

   • How is his/her attention span?

   • Is he/she usually shy, fearful, or hostile?

   • Has he/she had chances to see and do things

4. Is your child growing in independence?

   • Can he/she handle temporary separation from home, put away toys

   • Does he/she help clean up, dress independently, and take care of toilet needs?

   • Has he/she carried out small jobs around the home?

   • Does he/she get up at a reasonably early hour, wash and dress right away?
     
     

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