Registration for the 2015-16 school year begins Monday in the Little Rock, Pulaski County Special and North Little Rock school districts for students who will be new to the districts or who are seeking enrollment in special-program schools.
A few adjustments have been made in the process, particularly in the Little Rock and North Little Rock districts. Some of the changes reflect the phaseout of the interdistrict student transfer programs, which is a result of a January 2014 agreement in the long-running federal Pulaski County school desegregation lawsuit.
In Little Rock, the two-week registration period begins with a few days reserved for prekindergarten children at St. Mark Baptist Church Family Life Center, 5722 W. 12th St. The daily hours for registration will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The district will hold registration Monday and Tuesday at the church site for 3- and 4-year-old children seeking prekindergarten seats and who do not have older siblings enrolled in the district.
On Wednesday, registration at the St. Mark church center will be for only those children seeking prekindergarten seats who do have older siblings in the district.
"The goal is to streamline the process and make it a good customer-service experience for parents," said Pamela Smith, a spokesman for the district.
"The single largest group of new enrollees each year are the applicants for the preschool seats," Smith said. "We wanted to eliminate long wait times for families."
On Thursday and Friday, students in kindergarten through 12th grades who will be new to the district or are current students seeking assignment to a special-program school, such as a magnet school or an academy, can register at the St. Mark location.
Registration of all students in prekindergarten through 12th grades will be held the week of Feb. 2-6 in the district's Student Registration Office at 501 Sherman St., across East Capitol Avenue from the city's main U.S. Post Office. Additionally, kindergarten through 12th-graders can register that week at their attendance zone schools.
Families can find their attendance zone schools at k12.lrsd.org/sro.
Other information on enrolling in special-program magnet schools and academies is available on the district's website, www.lrsd.org. The registration information is accessed by clicking on the registration link on the banner at the top of the home page.
Enrollment forms also are available on the district's website for printing out, completing and turning in to the district. The website also includes information on the documents parents should take to register their children. Those documents include a birth certificate, a utility bill or other proof of address, and the child's Social Security number, unless the parent does not want to reveal that number and gets an alternate number assigned for the child.
Hours for registration the week of Feb. 2-6 will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
If the home address of a current student has not changed and the student will be in the same attendance zone school, the parents do not need to take any action during the registration period.
In North Little Rock this week, Monday through Friday has been set as the period for families to apply for a limited number of 30 legal transfers to the Little Rock School District. Applications must be submitted to the North Little Rock district, Superintendent Kelly Rodgers said.
Students in the Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts who want legal transfers to the North Little Rock district must apply in their home districts for those transfers during the two weeks beginning Monday and extending through Feb. 6. School bus transportation is not provided for the legal transfers.
The Pulaski County Special district will allow 30 legal transfers from its district to Little Rock and 30 more to North Little Rock, but it is not accepting legal transfers into its district, Pulaski County Special School District spokesman Deborah Roush said.
The North Little Rock School District and the Little Rock district are also participating in Arkansas School Choice Act interdistrict transfers for which applications are accepted into the late spring. School Choice Act transfers are different from legal transfers.
The Pulaski County Special School District is involved in a desegregation lawsuit and has opted out of participating in School Choice Act interdistrict transfers for the 2015-16 school year, Roush said.
The Pulaski County Special district is holding new student registration for the 2015-16 school year Monday through Feb. 6.
The registration is for prekindergarten, kindergarten and other elementary students who will be new to the district. They are to register at their attendance zone schools.
Secondary-grade students register at the regional hubs for their attendance zone schools:
• North Pulaski High School and Jacksonville and Sylvan Hills middle and high school students register at Sylvan Hills Middle School at 10001 Johnson St. in Sherwood.
• Maumelle middle and high school students register at Maumelle Middle School at 1000 Carnahan Drive in Maumelle.
• Fuller Middle School and Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School students register at the Pulaski County Special School District office at 925 E. Dixon Road in Little Rock.
• Joe T. Robinson middle and high school students are to register at Joe T. Robinson High School at 21501 Arkansas 10 in Little Rock.
To register a student, Roush said, a parent or guardian needs to present proper identification, which includes a birth certificate or a registrar statement, baptismal certificate, passport, affidavit or military identification, along with immunization records and Social Security card.
Proof of residence is also necessary and can be shown by presenting a current utility bill (gas, water or electric), a Little Rock Air Force Base housing verification form, home-purchase closing papers or a lease agreement. Prekindergarten registration requires additional documentation for enrollment. More information can be obtained by calling Homer Adkins Pre-kindergarten School at (501) 982-3117.
More information about Pulaski County Special district schools is available by calling the Division of Equity and Pupil Services at (501) 234-2020 or (501) 234-2021.
Students currently attending schools in the Pulaski County Special, Little Rock or North Little Rock school districts as magnet school students or majority-to-minority interdistrict transfer students will be able to remain at their schools until they complete all grades.
Metro on 01/25/2015