Donna Noonan, principal of John W. Decas Elementary School, has a somewhat surprising problem: too few kids.

The school, which is in the process of budgeting people and resources for the incoming fall 2015 class, has seen a very low signup rate for kindergarten classes. Noonan said she had expected 220 children based on the census data for the past year, but the current headcount of children signed up for kindergarten at the school is only 150.

Noonan said there has been “quite a bit of outreach” to locate incoming kindergarteners, including an advertisement in the newspaper, fliers sent home through older siblings, and information distribution to area preschools, but to no avail.

Noonan thinks it may have something to do with the new birthday cut-off date for incoming students, which the School Committee decided on several weeks ago.

“Our cut-off for entry into kindergarten was Aug. 31,” Noonan said, referring to the date by which a prospective student must have turned five years old. “Now it’s Oct. 1.”

Wareham Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood said the date pushback was due to the school district trying to be sensitive to people who may miss the cutoff date, in an effort to keep children in the district.

Noonan said it is important for the children to be exposed to the idea of going to school as early as possible, because it drastically changes their daily routines. In order to familiarize incoming students with school, the school has planned an afternoon meet and greet, complete with classroom activities for the children, scheduled for May 21. There are also sessions for parents to learn about a typical day in kindergarten.

“The kids might have a story read to them, or … get to play with [teaching] manipulatives, like building blocks, to teach them about math,” Noonan said. “Parents can learn about safety, arrival, dismissal, and how to help prepare their children for school.”

But getting all the students registered isn’t important for just the children and their families, Noonan said. The school needs to plan for how many teacher’s assistants it will need, and budget for materials and classroom supplies. It also needs to figure out how many kindergarten teachers it will actually need.

“Right now, I have 11 kindergarten teachers,” Noonan said. “But, if I don’t need 11 -- those are folks that need to be employed.”

Noonan said there are no immediate plans to cut teachers right now. Though current signups for kindergarten only justify between eight and nine classrooms, Noonan said she does not want to have to scramble for quality instructors in the fall, or overpack classrooms, which would detract from the students’ education.

“If you want to have the best people in the teaching positions, the more you know now, the better prepared you can be for the fall,” Noonan said. “We want to get it right, but, in order to get it right, we need to know where these kids are, and we need to get them signed up.”