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Westside Elementary School closed early two days this week to its regular students, but the halls remained busy as the Class of 2032 registered for their kindergarten school year.

Among those helping the students get off to a fast start is Merchants and Farmers Bank which prepared Kindergarten Readiness Bags that was shared with the 4-year-olds as they pre-registered.

“Merchants and Farmer’s Bank is a strong supporter of education and we know that starting out prepared for kindergarten is a huge step toward success in the early grades,” said Coleman Krusmark of Merchants & Farmers. “This was really a project with our downtown neighbors. The Demopolis Public Library donated the bags and Colony Office Products printed the flashcards and other materials.”

The Kindergarten Readiness Bags include color, number and shape flashcards, an alphabet sheet, crayons, pencils, scissors, a readiness checklist, information about library resources, and other early learning information. Every child that pre-registered for kindergarten this week received a bag.

Westside Elementary is home to all pre-kindergarten through second grade students in Demopolis. The school is in its second year implementing The Leader in Me program, is part of the Breakfast in the Classroom initiative, and was named a CLAS school of distinction for 2019.

(This article originally appeared in the Wednesday, March 27 issue of the Demopolis Times.)