CHARLOTTE — St. Gabriel School has added a fifth kindergarten class this year to meet overwhelming interest in the school.
It’s the first time the school has had five kindergarten classes.
The new kindergarten students started Feb. 2, said Principal Michele Snoke. The class is taught by Nicole Caprio, a board-certified kindergarten teacher who had been teaching the school’s STEM program for kindergarten to fifth grades.
Creating a new kindergarten section was planned by Superintendent Dr. Greg Monroe, Father Richard Sutter, pastor of St. Gabriel Church, and Snoke.
“We added the class in the middle of the school year because the need and opportunity was there,” Snoke said. “The timing was right. Our mission is to provide a Catholic education for all children. We had the ability to serve the children in our community.”
The new class was added to accommodate a waiting list that dates back a year, Snoke said, as well as increased enrollment interest prompted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The school has four other full kindergarten classes with 25 students in each.
“All the pieces fell into place,” Snoke said.
The new kindergarten class was quickly filled, she said. The admissions office for Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools contacted the families on the kindergarten waiting list, and most families expressed interest in starting kindergarten at St. Gabriel as soon as possible.
This change won’t affect class sizes in the future, Snoke said. Next year, the school will have five first-grade classes.
Total enrollment at the school is now 612 students.
To accommodate the growing number of classes, school leaders are working on a plan to renovate and add classroom space.
The school’s current students were not affected by this change, and none of the previous kindergartners were moved to the new class.
The new class is being taught in the room planned for the STEM classes this year, Snoke said.
Replacing Caprio as STEM teacher is Carolyn Lux. STEM was taught remotely during the first half of the year, and moving forward some classes are being held in individual classrooms as well as in space available adjacent to the music room.
— Kimberly Bender, Online reporter