VPK & Kindergarten Registration Info

• In order to access the online registration, you will need to create a Focus Parent Portal Account.  This can be done ahead of time at https://hdsb.focusschoolsoftware.com/focus/auth/. 

• You will then use this same link to complete the online registration application. 

• Registration will open:

• 8:00 a.m. on Monday, April 22 for VPK 
• 8:00 a.m. on Monday, April 15 for kindergarten.

Registration links are posted at the bottom of this page.   

Registration for Holmes County students who will enter VPK in the fall of 2024 will be:

VPK is free for all Florida 4-year-olds regardless of family income. Our programs are Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. For $10.00 per day, students can remain in our VPK programs from 11:00 a.m. until the end of the school day. Bus transportation is allowed for all VPK students who live on an established Holmes County bus route.

• Step #1:  Parents or legal guardians should first apply online with Florida Early Learning at www.floridaearlylearning.com to receive a VPK Certificate of Eligibility.
• Step #2: Approval of the online application with Florida Early Learning.
• Step #3:  Receiving your Certificate of Eligibility that will be sent to the email you register in the Florida Early Learning online application.
• Step #4:  Register your child online at www.hdsb.org and select the school that they would like to attend in our district (Bethlehem, Bonifay K-8, Ponce de Leon Elementary or Poplar Springs).  VPK students do not need to apply for Controlled Open Enrollment.
  
  

Each Holmes County VPK program has a limited number of children that they can serve. All applications will be taken on a first come, first served basis. There will be a waiting list for all students who do not get enrolled on the first attempt. Students on the waiting list will be contacted when space becomes available in the order their original application was received.

The following information will need to be uploaded into the Florida Early Learning site:

• a valid email address for the parent or legal guardian
• child’s birth certificate
• proof of Florida residency
  
  

The following information will need to be uploaded into the district online registration site:

• VPK Certificate of Eligibility from Florida Early Learning
• birth certificate
• certificate of immunization
• copy of physical from a physician on a Florida physical form
• Social Security Card (copy will be kept sealed in the student’s permanent record)
• two proofs of residence (driver’s license, power bill, voter’s registration card, etc.)
  
  

It is especially important that children be registered so that staffing plans for the 2024-25 school year can be made.

If you do not have access to the internet, you are invited to come to our school campus to register online. Please remember that you will need to bring all mandatory information listed above.

Parents or legal guardians should register their child online at www.hdsb.org and select the school that they would like to attend (Bethlehem, Bonifay K-8, Ponce de Leon Elementary or Poplar Springs).

The following information will need to be uploaded into the online enrollment application:

• birth certificate
• certificate of immunization
• copy of physical from a physician on a Florida physical form
• Social Security Card (copy will be kept sealed in the student’s permanent record)
• two proofs of residence (driver’s license, power bill, voter’s registration card, etc.)
  
  

To be eligible to enter kindergarten this fall, a student must be five years of age on or before September 1, 2024.

School of choice is dependent upon enrollment capacity. If you are outside of your school of choice zone, please complete the online Controlled Open Enrollment application in addition to the online registration form. The Controlled Open Enrollment form is available on our website, www.hdsb.org. All out of zone applications will be reviewed in late May and a letter of acceptance or decline will be mailed to the address provided on the application as soon as the review is complete at each school.

It is especially important that children be registered now, so that staffing plans for the 2023-24 school year can be made.

If you do not have access to the internet, you are invited to come to our school campus to register online. Please remember that you will need to bring all mandatory information listed above when you come to register.