Centerville schools to offer all-day kindergarten

Centerville City Schools is one of the last districts in Ohio to offer all-day kindergarten.
Centerville Schools will begin offering all-day kindergarten for the 2026-2027 school year. A lottery system will be used to determine which 80 of the district's 400-plus kindergartners will be enrolled. JIM NOELKER / STAFF

Centerville Schools will begin offering all-day kindergarten for the 2026-2027 school year. A lottery system will be used to determine which 80 of the district's 400-plus kindergartners will be enrolled. JIM NOELKER / STAFF

Centerville City Schools will offer all-day kindergarten for the 2026-2027 school year, one of the last districts in Ohio to do so.

“We have been working for many years to achieve all-day kindergarten for all students,” said Cherie Colopy, Centerville’s director of elementary curriculum, assessment and instruction.

According to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce 2024-2025 Kindergarten Enrollment Survey, 603 of the state’s 610 public districts had students enrolled in some form of all-day kindergarten for that school year.

Neighboring districts Kettering, Miamisburg and Oakwood offer all-day kindergarten classes. Springboro does not.

Centerville’s program will be limited to two classes of 20 students each in both Primary Valley North and Primary Valley South, for a total of 80 students district-wide.

Centerville schools have 434 kindergarten students between the two buildings this school year, Colopy said.

A lottery system will be used to determine which students are admitted to the all-day program.

Families enrolling students during the kindergarten enrollment period March 2-31 will be asked if they want to participate in the lottery.

Families of students already enrolled in the district’s preschool programs will receive a message via ParentSquare about how to enter.

The deadline to enter the all-day kindergarten lottery is May 1. Families will be notified if they were selected by late May, according to the district.

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