New families moving to Georgia and planning to enroll children in
school should contact the office of the school superintendent in the county or
city school system where they will be living. The Georgia Dept. of Education
website has a great search tool to find the one in your area.
Registration of
new students is usually held in the spring, and registration procedures vary
from system to system. You should contact your local school district for
specific registration information.
Most schools are closed during the summer,
but the administrative offices operate year-round. Each local board of education
determines attendance zones for the schools in the system.
Each system
determines what credits or grades it will accept for transfer students in
accordance with local board of education policy and State Board of Education
rules. The public school will verify credits of a student who transfers from a
non-accredited school or home study program through either trial placement or
achievement testing.
A student's parents or guardian usually will need to
request that records or transcripts be forwarded to a student's new school or
system. It is a good idea to make these arrangements when the student officially
withdraws from the previous school. Otherwise, the school where the student
enrolls will request the official transcript from the previous school.
Immunizations & Health Certificates
Georgia Law requires a
certificate of immunization for a student to be enrolled in a public school.
All students, regardless of grade and including foreign exchange students,
must have the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR) immunization
certificate on file.
Immunizations are required for measles, rubella,
tetanus, diphtheria, polio, mumps, whooping cough and hepatitis
B. Georgia DHR Form 3231, Certificate of Immunization, must be used
for students in grades K-12. A local health department computer-generated form
is also acceptable.
For entrance into the sixth grade, each student must have
at least one additional dose of MMR vaccine. Georgia DHR Form 3189 is acceptable
for showing this additional immunization.
Beginning with the 1997-98 school
year, completion of the hepatitis B series will be required for all children
born after January 1, 1992, to enter school or day care.
A student,
regardless of grade level, who has never been in a Georgia public school must
also provide certification of eye, ear and dental examinations. Any child
admitted to school without a certificate must present one within 120 calendar
days. The form for this examination is DHR Form 3300. All DHR forms may be
obtained at the local public health departments.
Attendance: Entry Age
for Public Kindergarten & First Grade
Georgia law requires that students
attend a public or private school or a home study program from their sixth to
their 16th birthdays. Public Kindergarten is available in every school system;
however, attendance is not compulsory. A child must be five years old on or
before September 1 to enter a public Kindergarten. The child must be six years
old on or before September 1 to enter first grade. School systems must verify
age before enrollment.
A child who was a legal resident of one or more states
for a period of two years immediately prior to moving to Georgia and who was
legally enrolled in either a public Kindergarten or first grade, or a private
Kindergarten or first grade accredited by a state or regional association, would
be eligible to enroll in Georgia schools, provided that the Kindergartner is
five years old by December 31 or the first grader is six by that
date.
Social Security Numbers
Students enrolling in Georgia public
schools for the first time will be asked by the school or school system to
furnish a Social Security number. However, the Social Security Number is not
required for enrollment in public schools. If they prefer, parents or guardians
may sign a statement declining to provide the number without giving a reason.
Students for whom Social Security numbers are not available will be assigned
other student identification numbers.
Cobby County School
District
The Cobb County School District is the second largest school system
in Georiga and among the 30th largest in the US. All Cobb County Schools are
accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Cobb students
consistently score above the national average on norm-referenced tests. The Cobb
County School District will serve more than 102,500 students during this school
year.
The District currently has 64 elementary schools available to the
community.
Please visit the GA Dept. of Education and the
Cobb County School District websites for more information.