ALDEN, N.Y. — Parents are trading in their kids' everyday clothes for uniforms, as private schools around Western New York are seeing an uptick in enrollment.

The principal at St. John the Baptist in Alden, Jonna Johnson, says to accommodate the more than 20 families that have recently enrolled their children there, they had to make a new classroom that was once used as a conference room.

"I thought to myself, ‘think I have enough kids to make a classroom, can I make a classroom?’ Without hesitation they said yes," Johnson said.

Johnson says in the last few weeks she's done paperwork for 35 new students coming from public schools. That brings the total enrollment for kindergarten through eighth grade up to 136 students. The school opened a second kindergarten classroom and a second first-grade classroom.

"That's a big increase for us, we're seeing it primarily in our younger grades, kindergarten and first," Johnson added.

There are about 12 kids per classroom with desks six feet apart. Larger desks are separated by plastic barriers. Lauren Kocher, who teaches kindergarten at St. John, was still sitting in her classroom around 5 p.m. sanitizing and going the extra mile to make sure her students can continue face-to-face learning time.

"I have dots on the floor to give the kids their brain breaks and wiggles out that kindergartners need. I've also boxed off my room for a standing area so we ca be that six feet apart," Kocher said.

More nametags come with more paperwork. Johnson says she's required to fill out a statistics report daily that's submitted to the state.

"Things like, are the children six feet apart, are the barriers put in place, are teachers cleaning the way they should be," Johnson added.

Johnson says if you asked her a few months ago how she thought this year was going to be…

"I was afraid that it was going to be like a prison, that it was going to be sterile, that there wasn't going to be this amazing learning opportunity and our teachers have found ways to do that," Johnson said.