Attendance zones are easy
New process simplifies, expedites enrollment
JULY 9, 2009 - Parents of middle school and high school students may enroll their children at the schools in their attendance zone as part of a plan to expedite sign-up and make the process more user friendly. On-site enrollment starts next week and continues from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday until August 3, when hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“Enrolling your child in school should be a pleasant, easy task. With that vision, we have rethought and revamped the process,” said Mark Bonne, Chief Communications Officer. “This is the type of systemic change that will occur as we work to make Rockford Public Schools the schools of first choice for families.”
Under the new process, the number of employees devoted to enrollment increases from four to 17. Clerical workers at Auburn, East, Guilford and Jefferson high schools, the Auburn Freshman Campus and Eisenhower, Flinn, Kennedy, Lincoln, RESA and West middle schools received training in recent weeks so that they could assume enrollment duties previously consolidated at the Family Resource Center on Haskell Avenue. Enrollment for elementary students continues to take place at FRC, where two additional positions have been added since February.
“The on-site system offers the potential for vast improvement at a minimal cost,” Board of Education Vice President Harmon Mitchell said during a news conference at Flinn Middle School. “On-site enrollment also brings the process closer to the people, and that was one of the rationales for moving to attendance zones in the first place.”
Much of the decentralization is being achieved by reorganizing clerical duties; only the six middle schools are receiving additional summer office workers. High schools and middle schools are entering their third year under a geography-based system that assigns students depending on where they live. Elementary students are enrolled through a lottery that factors in parental choice and geographic proximity. From July 1 through September 5 of 2008, nearly 900 new and transfer students enrolled in Rockford Public Schools, many of them in the week before classes began.
School officials also have simplified proof-of-address requirements and are launching a campaign to promote on-site enrollment. The public information campaign includes:
- direct mailing to 90,000 households in the Rockford School District. The mailing,which also features an introductory message to the community from newly appointed Superintendent LaVonne M. Sheffield, replaces the summer edition of a quarterly newsletter and paves the way for its redesign.
- Electronic billboard space donated by Lamar Outdoor Advertising in three high-traffic locations.
- Print advertising in local daily and weekly Spanish-language newspapers; radio spots on local channels.
On-site enrollment for students who are new to the community or leaving local private schools doesn’t replace registration for all students Aug. 13 and Aug. 14. During registration, activity and book fees are collected, health and other records are updated and students in middle school and high school receive class schedules.
School officials expect to merge summer enrollment and registration into a single process for 2010.
“Decentralizing enrollment is one step toward the larger goal of making our schools more welcoming for parents,” said Dr. Sheffield, who officially assumed her duties as superintendent July 1. “We are analyzing everything we do and changing whatever we must so that the interests of students come first.”
 View the PDF of the direct mailer
View the PDF of the direct mailer (SPANISH version)
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