For decades, parents in Sacramento have trudged through a familiar scene: a few weeks or days before school starts, they head to their school of choice, records in hand, and hope to get their children enrolled – sometimes against stiff competition for space.

Parents with children in several different schools had to trek all over the city to enroll students at multiple campuses. Even more confusing, the enrollment procedures could differ between schools. And parents who didn’t speak English well could have an especially difficult time getting children enrolled.

But the end of that outdated tradition begins three weeks from today, when a brand new, district-wide enrollment center opens that will give every parent a fair and equal shot at getting their children into the schools of their choice. The new system also will free schools that are usually buried in enrollment paperwork at the start of every school year. The change is part of the Sacramento City Unified School District’s new strategic plan called “Putting Children First.”

The new SCUSD Enrollment Center will open July 5 at 5601 47th Avenue, next to SCUSD’s main administrative complex.

The Enrollment Center was created as a one-stop shop to help families seeking resources and information when enrolling their children in the district. Families will be able to enroll students, ask for transfers, submit requests for open-enrollment at schools with space available and have questions answered. At the center, children can receive pre-testing services and even get needed immunizations (including the new mandatory Tdap vaccination).

“This is about fairness and equity and service,” Superintendent Jonathan P. Raymond said. “Every child should have an equal chance to get into their neighborhood schools or other schools of choice. Getting accepted at a school should not depend on inconsistent practices from school to school. When parents enroll their children, they should be able to get all the answers to all their questions in one place, and if they have several children of different school ages, they shouldn’t have to travel all over the city to enroll them.”

The Enrollment Center will ensure fairness and equity in the treatment of families and allow central monitoring of enrollment and intra- and inter-district permits. It also provides an opportunity to consolidate services and create a more efficient enrollment process, run by highly trained and knowledgeable Enrollment Center staff.

Superintendent Raymond said the move to centralized enrollment is a major shift, and he knows it will be tough for parents to get used to a system that is different from the one they’ve used for decades in enrolling children in school.

“It’s very important that parents start thinking about this new enrollment system now because it’s so different,” Superintendent Raymond said. “Our families are going to have the fairest, most efficient school enrollment process they’ve ever had in Sacramento, but the new system is a reversal of decades under the old school-based enrollment process. Parents should plan now for this change that is going to result in a much better enrollment process for their children throughout the city.”

The center will serve children who are enrolling in kindergarten, or for the first time at all other grade levels, and those who want to transfer to other schools. Students who will be attending the same school as last year are already enrolled and will not need to visit the new Enrollment Center.
Parents should visit the new Enrollment Center, starting July 5, for:

• Kindergarten enrollment
• First through 12th grade enrollment for children who want to attend a specific school for the first time
• K-8 home school program enrollment
• Open enrollment, which means students who want to attend a different school where there is space available
• Transfers from one SCUSD school to another
• Transfers to an SCUSD school from outside the district
• Inoculations for children at the new immunization clinic
• Services to families that qualify for district support services
• Student transcripts and other records
• Rapid Transit Monthly Bus Pass Outlet
• Work Permits for students
• Translation services for students for whom English is their second language
• Information about foreign exchange programs

Beginning July 5, the new Enrollment Center will be open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center will be open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. For those who cannot visit the Enrollment Center during the regular work week, the center will be open the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The new immunization clinic at the Enrollment Center will be open every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.