How to Enroll Your Child in a US School Without Missing a Document or Deadline

Katya’s cousin lands at LAX on a Tuesday with a nine-year-old, two suitcases, and the keys to a sublet in Van Nuys, and eight days later Katya’s phone starts buzzing on the manicure table in the middle of somebody’s fill. Katya peels off one glove and reads the text out loud to the whole salon, which school do we go to and what do they want from us, all lowercase, no question mark, and I answer before anybody asks me to. My answer is that the school year started back in August and the boy will sit at home until the next semester, and Nina, two chairs down with her hands flat under a fan, says without looking up that nobody waits and the address picks the school, and Katya deletes my version and types hers.

Finding the school

That night on the couch, with the LAUSD site open on my laptop and a game on the TV, I learn that Nina is right, that Los Angeles Unified covers most of LA and runs into 25 other cities, some of them fully and some in part, and that a kid gets a neighborhood school by home address, except in the areas the district calls Zones of Choice, where families rank a short list of schools. The cousin’s street goes into the Resident School Identifier and comes back with one school name, and then our own street goes in and comes back with a middle school for a child I don’t have. The same page says a kid who lives in the district can enroll at the assigned school any time of year, so I send Katya a correction before midnight.

The papers they want

Next day, at my station, the only paper at hand is a salon receipt; so the list is written in blue pen on the back of it and Katya takes a picture of it before the thermal paper disappears.

What needs to go on the receipt, in my worst handwriting, is four things, one something that establishes where she lives, like a gas or water or electric bill, a lease, a rent receipt with address, a property tax statement, a pay stub or a letter from a government agency, then something with the kid‘s birth date, so a birth certificate or baptismal certificate or one of those certified birth date statements from a local registrar or county recorder, then her own government ID, and then his shot record signed by a doctor, or an immunization release. She could do it all by uploading it onto the district‘s One Enrollment site or just walk it in, and of course she walks it in, because she wants to look somebody in the eye.

And the lease, all right, the lease is the real story because every bill at that sublet has the landlord‘s name, so she calls Katya from the school parking lot kind of crying, and Katya puts her on speaker and I‘m filing somebody‘s thumbnail pretending I‘m not listening when in fact I am. Except it turns out to be nothing. The office has a form for just that occasion, a sworn statement called an affidavit, and she fills it out, signs it, job done, and LAUSD takes it for any missing paper except the shot record, which, noted. She also brings in a copy of his old report cards, that some acquaintance of an acquaintance back in his home country translated for some chocolate, and the lady asks if he has an IEP or a 504 plan, the U.S. plans for special education services and disability accommodations, and he doesn‘t, so they move on.

Then in the car she is texting me about the visa, like should she have brought it, and an hour later just the word visa and a question mark, and honestly that one got me, because my first year I was here I read every piece of paper I got from my bank three times, sure it wanted some paper I didn‘t have. No one asked for it, and that‘s no accident. There is one Supreme Court decision, Plyler v. Doe, from 1982 which says that a public school anywhere in the country can‘t use a child‘s or a parent‘s immigration status to keep the child out, and in California there is Education Code 234.7 which says school people shouldn‘t be collecting info about citizenship or immigration of students or their families unless a law or program requires it. Others, take a look at yours, because some legislatures keep stabbing at that.

Where the week went

Our week is all shot record. California will verify it before each student enters school, from TK, which is transitional kindergarten, up through twelfth grade, for five groups, diphtheria and tetanus and whooping cough combined plus polio, hepatitis B, MMR, and chickenpox, with the number of doses varying depending on the age of the child. If he‘s started every series, and the next dose isn‘t due yet, the school can admit him conditionally until he‘s caught up; and the LAUSD 2024 enrollment bulletin lists newly arrived students among those enrolled right away, even without a shot record. That‘s why her son is in a classroom and his record is still a mess.

An affidavit is not going to fix anything if you miss shots, and the required shots have to appear on the record at some point if a child has no medical exemption.

Then that history. It‘s this little book with purple stamped dates, and a nurse‘s handwritten notes in Russian, and the receptionist holds the book sideways trying to read it, which doesn‘t work. So on a Wednesday evening I was reading about polio, of all things, and I learned that the Russian immunization schedule has used both the injection and the oral drops over the years, the current schedule still uses the oral drops for the later boosters for most kids, and California doesn‘t count doses of oral polio vaccine given on or after April 1, 2016, so a nine year old‘s toddler drops don‘t count, and the booklet is read by a translator, then a Van Nuys pediatrician.

The school physical is the one thing she is free of, because California did away with it for school entry as of July 1, 2024. Katya says something in Russian at lunch that I‘m pretty sure is thank god.

Nina and the October thing

My favorite story is Nina‘s, and I like it because she is telling it while her nails are curing, and therefore she cannot even wave her hands. Her older son entered their neighborhood school without difficulty because LAUSD neighborhood schools accept new students year-round, but she wanted him in a magnet program; so one October she sees the word magnet on the district website and automatically considers that to refer to gifted children, so she closes the page and continues working; months later she learns this was CHOICES, the magnet and dual-language and similar programs application form, which opens every October.

Now the dates are stuck to her refrigerator. Open Enrollment for any schools with seats left runs a few weeks in April and May, and LAUSD‘s online enrollment for the upcoming school year begins mid-March. In California a child becomes eligible for TK if he/she turns four years of age on or before September 1 of the particular school year, and for kindergarten if he/she turns five by then.

One last form

Last thing in the packet is the Home Language Survey, about what languages the family uses with the kid, and the cousin checks English only, like it’s a test she can fail, and sends Katya a photo, and Katya calls her from the break room, and four minutes of very fast Russian later she’s asking for a clean copy. Great call, because if the survey indicates another primary language, the child takes the Initial ELPAC, the state‘s test of English for new students, then the school must send home the result to the parents within 30 calendar days of the child‘s first day of school, and these results determine whether or not he receives English learner support.

For the next cousin

So on another receipt I write what I’d tell the next cousin, find the school by address, get the address and birth date papers and your ID together and ask LAUSD about the affidavit for whatever’s missing, get the shot record translated and have a pediatrician check it, enroll with the old report cards and your real home language on the survey, and put the October and spring dates on the fridge.

1. Find your school by address.
2. Gather proof of address, proof of your child’s birth date, and your ID, and in LAUSD ask about the affidavit for anything missing.
3. Get the shot record translated and have a pediatrician check it against your state’s list.
4. Enroll online or at the office with old report cards, and put your real home language on the Home Language Survey.
5. Mark the October and spring application dates.

Two days later the cousin sends Katya a photo of a blue folder on the kitchen table, with the lease on top, finally in her name, and one more question from the school about the bus, and Katya reads it, presses ENTER, and returns to somebody‘s cuticles.

Seven days later the cousin has a new worry, keeping the boy’s Russian alive once English takes over, so I send her the Palme School page. The school teaches kids from age four online, in small groups, 40 minutes a lesson, and every family starts with two free sessions, a get-to-know-you meeting with a methodologist and then a trial class with a group. The page I send her points to two courses, Russian for bilingual children and the reading school, and I tell her to start with the second one, because her son speaks Russian at the dinner table and reads it about as fast as I do.

Frequently asked questions

Can a public school turn my child away because of immigration status?

No. Under Plyler v. Doe, a public school can't use a child's or a parent's immigration status to deny enrollment, and California law also tells school staff not to collect citizenship or immigration information unless a law or program requires it.

The lease and bills aren't in my name yet. What now?

In LAUSD, if any document other than the shot record is missing, the family fills out an affidavit with the school. Other districts have their own options, so call the school office.

Does my child need every vaccine before the first day?

Not always. In California, a child who has started each required series and isn't overdue for the next dose can be admitted conditionally. LAUSD's 2024 enrollment bulletin also lists recently immigrated students among those enrolled right away, even without shot records, so ask the school how the vaccine rules apply to your child.

Is there a deadline to enroll in LAUSD?

Not for the assigned neighborhood school, which takes students all year. Dates matter for CHOICES applications, which open in October, for Open Enrollment, which runs a few weeks in April and May, and for the September 1 birthday cutoff for TK and kindergarten.

Palme School: Russian for bilingual children · School of reading · Free materials for families

Monica Perez moved to Los Angeles from Rosario, Argentina. She interacts a lot with Russian-speaking women at her nail salon, so she has a wealth of knowledge about Russian culture and the secrets that women from Russia keep to themselves.