Camping out for kindergarten | Schools

A long line of parents were camped out Sunday night in Mukilteo's Endeavour Elementary School, but it wasn't for something you might expect like a new iPhone or U2 tickets.  No, the hottest ticket in town was actually for spots to full-day kindergarten.

Full-day kindergarten is in high demand in most school districts, but in Mukilteo, it's turned into an annual camp-out to be among the first in line.

Rich Ramey knew it would be tough to get his kid into kindergarten, but he didn't know just how tough it would be until he got a phone call Saturday night.

"A friend of ours called and said, 'Hey, the first person's gotten there so you guys better come pretty soon,' so we said well call us when 6 or 7 people come."

Not long after, their friend called back and said the line was growing.

"My wife said, 'get in the car' and I had to come over here," he said.

Parents lined up as early as Saturday night to snag one of only 25 available spots, as hundreds of parents want their kids in.

"You kinda get a better transition to first grade," said Scott Gallagher, who was 21st in line. "You get a longer day."  Gallagher just made the cut for his daughter.

Administrators handed out slips of paper with numbers marking each parent's spot. Still, they had to wait until Monday morning at 9 a.m. to sign up -- meaning for some parents, it was a 36 hour wait, camping out and playing games to stay occupied.

"We all know each other," Gallagher said. "But it was a good time to really get to know each other, spend some time together."

When the sun came up Monday morning, the devoted parents were ready for the marathon of waiting to be over, but they say they'll do a lot for their kids.

For Ramey, he says 36 hours was about the limit for his patience, "I don't know how much more of this I want to do, but we have a 3-year-old, so we'll probably do this again in two years."

The school's principal said they still have to do address checks before spots are set in stone.

Parents who are unable to get their kids signed up for the all-day classes will automatically have their kids placed in half-day kindergarten.