As many members of our SAISD Familia are getting ready to go on summer break, schools have been working hard, both on the front lines and behind the scenes, to make sure students are enrolled and ready for next year. 

It’s a lot of work to assist families with technology and make sure they have everything they need, but two campuses – Storm Elementary and Hillcrest Elementary – are already at 100% registration for next year. 

At Storm, they set up a committee that met every week, set biweekly goals, and offered classroom incentives for reaching 100%. 

“Our teachers were on board from the beginning,” principal Jackie Navar said. “But none of this would have been accomplished without our amazing data clerk Ms. Dorothy Gamez, who supported parents. Every time a parent came in to drop off a student we stopped and had that parent register.” 

Gamez said she sent up tables at family events to help parents register, and also registered parents at drop off and pick up times.

The overall process was a chance to visit with parents, recruit younger students, and to get families set up for success next year. 

“It’s important because it gives the data to prepare for the next year,” Gamez said. “It’s a good opportunity to communicate with parents and give information for the upcoming school year.” 

At Hillcrest, data clerk Barbara Saenz hit the ground running early, taking advantage of every opportunity she saw parents to either register their children or hand out quick registration forms as soon as registration was open. 

“A parent came in to enroll for the current year, so I went ahead and registered for the coming year too,” Saenz said. “From then on, as parents came into my office I offered to assist with next year's registration, assuring that the process was a quick one. I not only assisted with my students, if time permitted, I went ahead a registered siblings at other campuses.”

Saenz said she made calls, lots of calls, and worked with teachers to reach out via Class Dojo. She said it was a team effort with supportive teachers and administration.

“I am proud to say I had my campus registered before we left for Easter break,” Saenz said. “I can't go without acknowledging my supporting administration. With their support we reached 100% in record time.”

Great work Storm, Hillcrest, and all the schools who are nearing the finish line!