Enrollment and Attendance
School Admissions
Any student enrolling in a West Carroll school for the first time must present at the time of registration:
A birth certificate or officially acceptable evidence of the date of birth.
Evidence of a current medical examination. There shall be a complete medical examination of every student entering school for the first time. This applies to kindergarten, first grade, and other students for whom there is no health record.
Evidence of state-required immunization.
In the absence of a state-issued birth certificate, parents or guardians must provide legal documentation of the following: maiden name of the student's biological mother; proof of the country, state, county, and the municipality of the student's birth.
West Carroll Special School District reserves the right to require proof of legal custody.
Students enrolling in West Carroll Schools for the first time are required to provide proof of legal residency within WCSSD boundaries. Acceptable documentation may include any two of the following: a copy of mortgage payment information, a notarized copy of a rent receipt, or a copy of utility bill(s).
Those who enroll a dependent student in West Carroll Schools should be informed that any parent, guardian, or other legal custodians who enrolls an out-of-district student in a school district and fraudulently represents the address for the domicile of that student for enrollment purposes is liable for restitution to the school district for an amount equal to the local per-pupil expenditure identified by the Tennessee Department of Education for the district in which the student is fraudulently enrolled (TCA 49-6-3003).
West Carroll Special School District may enroll students with a properly executed Power of Attorney for Care of a Minor Child for the following recognized hardships:
The serious illness or incarceration of a parent or legal guardian.
The physical or mental condition of the parent or legal guardian or the child is such that care and the supervision of the child cannot be provided.
The loss or uninhabitability of the child's home as a result of a natural disaster.
The need for medical or mental health treatment (including substance abuse treatment) by the parent or legal guardian.
Any such document presented at a West Carroll School for consideration must be executed on the proper form issued by the Tennessee Department of Children's Services, must be notarized by a public notary in Tennessee, and contain the signatures of both parents, regardless of custody status. WCSSD may require documentation of any hardship claims.
*Any student who is homeless, migrant, and or foster, these enrollment requirements are optional.*
Kindergarten Enrollment
The following documentation must be presented when registering a new student for kindergarten:
1. Birth Certificate (optional) - Certified copy, not "mother's copy" (The student must be five years old on or before August 15, 2017).
2. Tennessee Certificate of Immunizations (Issued by a doctor or county health department)
3. Proof of a physical examination (May be completed, signed, and checked by the doctor on the Tennessee Certificate of Immunizations.)
4. Proof of Residence
Voluntary Pre-kindergarten Enrollment
Crystal Polinski, Supervisor of Voluntary Pre-K, crystal.polinski@wcssd.org
The following documentation must be presented when registering a new student for pre-kindergarten:
1. Birth Certificate - Certified Copy (The child must be four years old on or before August 15, 2017.)
2. Certificate of Immunizations (Issued by a doctor or county health department)
3. Proof of Physical Examination (May be completed, signed, and checked by the doctor on the Tennessee Certificate of Immunizations)
4. Proof of Residence
5. Proof of Income
Required Immunizations
The following immunizations are required for school entry for new pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students:
1. DPT series and booster (4 or 5) doses
2. Polio series and booster (4) doses
3. Hepatitis B (3) doses
4. Hepatitis A (2) doses
5. MMR (2) doses
6. Varicella (2) doses
Attendance
Kellie Medina, Attendance Coordinator, kellie.medina@wcssd.org
Tennessee state law requires children to attend school regularly from age 6 until their 18th birthday. A five-year-old child who has been enrolled in a kindergarten class in a Tennessee public school for at least six weeks is also subject to this compulsory attendance law.
When a student who is subject to the compulsory attendance law accumulates five unexcused absences during the course of one school year, he or she is considered under Tennessee law to be truant. West Carroll Special School District is required by state law to notify the parent(s) of any student each time he or she accumulates five unexcused absences. Truancy can lead the student or parents facing charges in Carroll County Juvenile or General Sessions Court.
The principal of each building, or his/her designee, may excuse a student's absence for good cause. Good cause is generally considered a personal illness, illness or death of an immediate family member, extreme weather event, religious observances, or other circumstances which, in the judgment of the principal, create an emergency over which the student has no control. Students participating in school-sponsored activities, whether on campus or off, will not be counted absent.
The attendance policy requires each student to bring a note within three days of returning to school after any absence. No absence can be recorded as excused unless that note is turned in upon his/her return. According to this policy, any of the first six absences each semester may be excused with a note from a parent or guardian; however, the seventh absence, and any absence after that, will not be excused without a note from a doctor.
Homebound Services
Homebound instruction services may be offered to students with a serious injury or illness that prevents school attendance for at least five consecutive days. While homebound instruction must be recommended by a student's physician, the building principal must approve the application before homebound services may be offered. In order to qualify for homebound instruction services, a parent or guardian must complete and return to the principal's office the Request for Homebound Services form, and the student's physician must complete and return to the principal's office the Physician's Statement of Qualifying Medical Condition.
No student will be classified as homebound after he or she recovers from the qualifying illness and returns to school.
Homeschool
The Tennessee Department of Education requires that parents or legal guardians who plan to conduct home schools must register with their local public school superintendent each year. Parents or guardians are required to register each year, even if they were registered in the previous year. Failure to register as a home school in the state of Tennessee means that parents or students are subject to facing legal charges for violation of the state compulsory attendance law. The Intent to Home School form is available under the Document/Form Downloads tab on the left side of this page or by clicking on the highlighted link above.
Parents who plan to conduct an independent home school for children in kindergarten through the twelfth grade are reminded that they must possess a high school diploma or GED. Documentation of education levels must be submitted with registration forms.
Attendance forms for home school students registered with West Carroll Special School District must be submitted to the district office at the end of the school year.
For more information, contact Kellie Medina (attendance), Crystal Polinski (homebound), Regina Alred (homeschool).