{how to register a child for school in a new county}

It has been mishap after mishap getting Em registered for her new school here. From the very begining, nothing but trouble.

First, there's the whole school choice thing that I never heard of before moving here. We were always assigned to schools based on where you live, but here, the county is broke into zones & you're assigned to any school within your zone, which is based on where you live. Apprently you can request schools within your zone, but because of timing, we weren't really able to do that this year.

So, first you go to the school choice office & are assigned a school. I TRIED to do that before I even moved here & got told that since school was still in session here, they can only hold a seat at the assigned school for one week and to come back once school is out for the summer. OK fine. Mind you, I made a special trip down here from Orlando, for this purpose...and got nothing accomplished. So I wait til summer & try again, get assigned to a school & am told to call the school 2 weeks prior to the year starting & they will tell me what the next steps are. So far so good.

2 weeks before school arrives, so I call the school & am told that I need a few basic documents to finish the process. Proof of residence, her birth cert, social security card, a physical dated within the past year & a current shot record (aka, blue form). They ask what grade she is going into, I say first & they say, OK, you don't need a report card then since she's just coming off Kindergarden. Sounds good... Then I think about it more. Her last physical was before starting school last year, so it's more than a year outdated. No biggie, I'll just take her for a new one. Emma was at my mom's house at the time, so I called the doctor in Orlando to see if they can fit her in for a phyiscal & give us a new shot record...sure, on August 18. School starts August 8. Not gonna work. So I ask if we can just pick up a copy of the blue form....sure, but they need at least a week to get it ready. (Why, I don't know, it's just fill in the blanks for her chart, but whatever.) Remember, I was told to call the school 2 weeks prior to school starting & now the blue form won't be ready for at least another week. Nothing like last minute.

Now, let me explain something about required shots, it may be the same everywhere, but I don't know. There is a round of shots required when a child is 5, they must have it before starting kindergarden. The next required round is at age 12. Em has completed Kindergarden, so obviously she is current on shots. So I call the new school, explain that her blue form won't be available until mid next week (less than one week before school starts...and remember, it's her shot records, so I can't go just anywhere & get it), but since nothing has been required since the time that I got her last blue form, can I just give them a copy of that and then give them the actual form once I get it. She tells me, sure you can do that, but she's not registered until we got the actual form. Ok, the answer is really no then.

So I take her for an updated physical at a walk in clinic & just wait for her doctor to finish up the blue form. I call on Wednseday (school starts following Tuesday) and it's ready. I call her dad, who lives/works 5 minutes from the doctors office, and he will go pick it up and overnight it to me. Why he can't go on lunch, I'll never know, so he goes after work Wednsday. Thursday he drops it in overnight mail for me, I get it Friday morning & rush over during lunch to drop off the forms & fill out 128 forms that all say the same thing. Open house is Monday night....which is when I'm picking Emma up from her dad's for the weekend, so we're not going to be able to make it. I ask the office lady (who is super slow by the way), if I can't make open house, do I just come in to the office Tuesday morning & find out her teacher then? She says, you can, but it will be a madhouse in here, why not just call Monday & we can tell you then.

Huge sigh of relief as everything is done.

Call Monday to get the teacher assignment...and low & behold... they have no record of my child. Talk to date clerk who says the name dosen't even look familer to her, did I give the paperwork to her? I describe the woman that took all the papers & get an "OH, her. OK, let me call you back." Great. Just great. Sounds very reassuring. Now my mind is racing. I don't have time to fill out the paperwork again. I CAN not/WILL not get another copy of the blue form nor the physical form. Seriously, at this point, not my problem, they need to figure it out and they need to do it fast.
3:15 comes, I know they close at 3:30, so I call back. She found the file, but there's no proof of residence in there & she needs a copy of the last report card. OK. I left a copy of my power bill...nope, not in the file. Fine, I'll fax another copy. I was told since she was going into first grade, a copy of the report card wasn't needed....nope, we still need it. Fine, I'll get a copy of it. And then what? Bring it in on the first day (which is now TOMORROW) and get a teacher assignment then? She says, no, don't worry about that, just stick the documents in an envelope with my name on it & I'll assign you a teacher now. (Somehow making me think that she realizes that this was not my fault) Once I get home that night, I make a copy of another bill with my name & address...but can't find her last report card. I have 1st, 2nd & 3rd quarter, but not the final one. Go figure. The more I think about it, I don't even remember ever seeing her final report card. (I ended up calling the old school the next day & they faxed me a copy. They said the final report card went home on the last day of school....so I'm sure it's floating around her dad's house somewhere since she was staying with him at that point.)

First day of school. I have a teacher's name, but no clue where her room is. We stop & ask someone, they want to double check I have the right teacher name. Of course. Emma's name is not on a class list anywhere. I explain the mess up to that point & that I was given a teachers name about 3:45 the day before. She points me to that teachers classroom & explained that she dosen't have the final list, but the teacher will. Think the teacher had Emma's name on her list? Of course not! The princapal pops in, the teacher told her that she dosen't have a record of Emma, princapal makes a call & confirms that Emma belongs in that class.

I felt bad for the teacher really. You could tell that she made sure she was ready, cubbies labeled, nametags made....and then throw an extra kid at her. Two actually, another one came in with the same situation while I was there. She was very nice though & actually took my cell number before I left, just in case anything came up during the day of mass confusion.

So I get into work, feeling stressed but better since everything is resolved. I have a message. From the before/after school care...we've got tons of paperwork here, is your child attending this week or next & how much did we quote you, cause I have so much going on here & I'm just trying to keep all these kids straight. Sigh. I call & confirm that she will indeed be there this week, today after school actually. OK, just checking.

Everything turned out OK. Other than some confussion on how to get back to where I needed to be to pick her up in the afternoon, it all ended well.

When I asked her how the school day was, she replied with:
Well, I survived.
I agree kiddo. I survived too & that's about all we can ask for at this point.