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Q&A
Council member inquires about 3-K and UPK applications and marketing efforts
1:03:39
·
3 min
Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez questions DOE officials about the number of applicants for 3-K and UPK programs for the upcoming school year and the impact of increased marketing efforts. DOE representatives explain that while final numbers are not yet available, applications seem to be on par with the previous year.
- DOE officials state it's too early to determine the impact of additional marketing efforts on application numbers.
- The importance of analyzing both application numbers and actual enrollment is emphasized.
- DOE mentions collaboration with other agencies like HRA and DOHMH in these efforts.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:03:39
Good to see everyone virtually.
1:03:41
I I just have a couple of questions.
1:03:44
Can you all share how many applicants the system had for both three ks and UPK in this school year?
1:03:54
For 2025, '20 '20 '6, excuse me.
Travonda Kelly
1:04:04
Thank you so much for that question, good morning.
1:04:07
Unfortunately we just closed the three ks and pre k application process, so we don't have the final numbers to share.
1:04:14
What we can say is that in comparison to last year, it seems to be on par with application numbers from last year, but we'll share them once we have it, which is usually in the spring.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:04:24
Okay.
1:04:25
Thank you.
1:04:25
And so you and I know it's obviously pretty early, but because one of the things that that chair Joseph shared in her remarks and something that I just wanna share my gratitude for, you know, giving us the space on the council to be a part of the the ECE working group.
1:04:39
I think you all have invested quite a lot of time and resources into marketing, and, obviously, the the council fought and secured for that funding.
1:04:47
Is there anything that you can share specifically about marketing that happened this year different than years past?
1:04:54
And do you think that that will help increase applications amount of applications for three k and UPK?
Travonda Kelly
1:05:03
Sure.
1:05:03
I can start.
1:05:04
As you may know that this is a shared task between student enrollment as well as our division of early childhood team, and so we work very close hand in hand in addition to working with other agencies across including the public engagement unit and so what I can share is for us, some of these things are tried and true things that we have already done in terms of outreach and then we have to go on a different approaches for increasing outreach in in ways that we haven't done before.
1:05:35
So I'll start off by listing.
1:05:37
It's a lot to list, but I'll start.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:05:39
Oh, no.
1:05:39
No.
1:05:40
I'm so sorry.
1:05:40
You don't have to listen.
1:05:41
My apologies.
1:05:41
I appreciate it.
1:05:42
Okay.
1:05:42
I don't wanna take up all the time.
1:05:44
I just I guess my question is, because you said it is on par.
1:05:48
Do you not do you not believe that the additional efforts in funding and marketing is contributing to increased applications, I guess, is what I'm asking?
1:05:57
I know you don't have the finite numbers in front of you, but just kind of do you have a sense?
Travonda Kelly
1:06:01
Got it.
1:06:03
The numbers are similar to last year, so I don't want to say that these efforts weren't helpful, but it's really hard to say.
1:06:11
It's very early on and of course application activity and enrollment, all of that plays a good role in exactly where we're land in September, so it's too early to say.
Daniel Weisberg
1:06:22
And just to say, councilmember, it's a great question.
1:06:25
We're obviously interested in this as well.
1:06:27
This is a partnership, as you know, with sister agencies.
1:06:31
So HRA, DOHMH are also part of this effort.
1:06:36
And so what we hope to do is evaluate with them the impact.
1:06:40
Another point to make, like we certainly look at application numbers.
1:06:44
The more important metric is actual enrollment.
1:06:47
Because particularly when you're talking about three ks and pre k, there's a lot of families that will put in an application and then decide not to enroll.
1:06:55
So all of that is to say there's a lot of data to, analyze to see what's gonna be most effective in filling the seats that that we have.
1:07:04
We we we need a little bit of time to to, analyze all of that.