VALDOSTA — The Lowndes High School campus was a camping ground over the night as parents of pre-schoolers came out before sunset Friday to get in line for today’s pre-K registration.

Amid a number of changes made to the school system’s redistricting plan over the past months, the decision was made to hold all of this year’s pre-K registrations in one place, in efforts to alleviate confusion.

“We didn’t want people to go to the wrong school and miss out on the opportunity to enroll their kids in pre–K, because it is on a first come, first served basis,” said Heather Bonner, director of community relations.

To keep the process fair for all community parents, system employees must stand in line to register their children as well.

“The reason it’s first come, first served is because of state guidelines, which require it be done this way or as a lottery. Our system felt this was the fairest way to do it rather than pulling names out of a hat,” Bonner said. “And this process is 100 percent fair, no preferences. One of our elementary school principals has a child going into pre-K this year, and she’ll be out there tonight as well.”

With only 40 pre-K slots at each elementary school, parents had begun lining up by 4 p.m. Friday, in hopes of having first dibs come 9 a.m. this morning. As the campus cleared of students and faculty, mothers and fathers set up camp under the gymnasium pavilion, some with padded lawn chairs, books and bottled water, others with laptops, pillows and tents.

“We’ve nicknamed it the pre-K pajama party,” said one group of mothers who came out from the same neighborhood.

“I have my laptop and DVD player and we’re going to watch a movie in a little bit,” said Shannon Best, who was looking to get one of her five children enrolled in Pre-K. “I have one child in school, and this will be the second to be enrolled, and in two more years, I’ll be back again to enroll my triplets. Being able to get my second child enrolled in pre-K would certainly bring some financial relief, otherwise, it will be another $110 a week.”

While some couples came out together, and a few even brought their children, a number of the parents took tag-team shifts through the night.

“After dark, I won’t be here,” said parent Sonya Riley, who is also a teacher at Moulton Branch. “My husband is coming to spend the night. We’re doing this because we weren’t sure how many people would come, and we didn’t want to get here in the morning and be turned away. I really would like for my son to be at Moulton Branch with me.”

According to Bonner, plans for the joint registration process have been underway since the board began to present the redistricting process.

“We did anticipate that people would camp out actually, and so we have a police officer out through the night and port-a-potties on site as well,” Bonner said. “We even have some students at Clyattville who have decided to take advantage of this captive audience, and raise money for Relay for Life by selling coffee and donuts.”

Doors will open at 9 a.m. today and Lowndes pre-K registration is scheduled to continue through 2 p.m. Parents hoping to register their children are encouraged to come out to the high school early.

“We’ve been trying to get the word out that even if you pull up and 40 people are already in line, don’t go away because all of them are probably not trying to register for the same school you are trying to get your children into,” Bonner said. “And next year, things will return to normal and you will be able to register at the schools. By that time, the lines will have been drawn for a full year and people will be more familiar.”