LA JOYA I.S.D. OFFICE OF ADMISSIONS & RECORDS PROCEDURES MANUAL

LA JOYA I.S.D. OFFICE OF ADMISSIONS & RECORDS PROCEDURES MANUAL

The Office of Admissions & Records is the first stop for new families moving into our district. Re-entry students who left the district and are coming back must report to their zoned campus. Our goal, conforming to federal, state and local admission policies, is to provide courteous and expeditious service to the families and students so that the instructional process can begin immediately and increase student achievement. In addition, our office is responsible for complying with the state mandated records control schedule that enables us to collaborate with all district campuses and departments as well as the community that requests different types of records. Student Registration When a family comes in to enroll a student(s), the Admissions & Records clerk will greet the family and begin the verification process of all the required documents. If the family does not have all the required documents to enroll a student, then the Admissions & Records Clerk will have to make contact with the previous school to request the necessary documents. Once a family has been cleared to proceed, a number will be given to the family to take a seat in the waiting room until the next Admissions & Records Clerk is ready to begin the interview with the family. The Admissions & Records Clerk who will be entering the data must greet and introduce himself/herself to the family. All information will be entered online in Skyward and an electronic signature will be obtained from the parent or guardian for the many forms that will need to be answered. A receipt form will be printed to let the campus know that the online enrollment has been successful. A set of required documents to enroll will accompany the receipt form that will go to the school; the other set will remain here at Admissions & Records. The Admissions & Records Clerk will finish the interview by once again welcoming the parent/guardian to the district. The facilitator, office secretary and the records retention clerk are expected to assist in the actual online enrollment process if the director deems it necessary during peak periods. Conditional Enrollment: There may be times when a family will be given a conditional enrollment if they are pending certain documents such as birth certificate, guardianship papers or proof of residence. We will not keep the child out of school. Conditionals will be approved and signed only by the director or facilitator. The parent/guardian will receive a copy of the 2

conditional. The Admissions & Records clerks will follow up with the campuses to ensure that the conditionals have been fulfilled. Unusual scenarios are to be directed to either the facilitator or director for evaluation. Summer Arena Online Enrollment: Enrollment for Pre-K and new to district students begins in May of every summer at the Jimmy Carter Early College High School Gym and continues until early September. In this campaign, approximately 23 substitutes are hired to assist the parents/guardians with the online enrollment process. The funds to pay the substitutes come from the approved department budget. All substitutes are trained and are expected to follow all rules and procedures from this office. The regular office staff will assist by verifying all documents that the families are presenting at the front verification tables. If the family has all the required documentation, they will receive a number to take a seat and wait for the substitute to call out the number to begin the online enrollment data entry process and interview. A receipt form will be printed and sent to the school along with all required documents. One set will remain at Admissions & Records. Campus personnel will pick up all student folders in late summer. Folders will only be released to parents/guardians to take to the campuses three weeks before school starts. A notary public is available to assist families with proof of residence or guardianship papers. A health clinic may be available at the gym to provide immunizations if the parent desires to use that service. There are fees which are not associated with La Joya ISD, for the services that the notary public and the health clinic provide. Documentation: New students THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION FOR REGISTRATION AT THE OFFICE OF ADMISSIONS AND RECORDS IS AS FOLLOWS: PARENTS/GUARDIANS MUST PRESENT IDENTIFICATION (For example: Valid driver s license, Texas I.D., birth certificate, Resident Alien Card) CHILD S ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE CHILD S SOCIAL SECURITY CARD CHILD S IMMUNIZATION RECORD (Must be up to date) PROOF OF RESIDENCE 3

(Only most recent light, water, natural gas, waste management, DirecTV, Dish Network, cable service, or land line telephone or (cell) bills will be accepted; the bill must be under either parent s name and show a physical address). A notarized letter is required as proof of residence if the family registering a child doesn t have the aforementioned utility bills under either parent s name. The letter must list the family members residing in the household and indicate both the physical and mailing address of where they live. Withdrawal form from previous school district; report card showing promotion status; high school transcript. Income verification (FOR PRE-K ONLY) Income verification is only done for state reporting purposes. It does not affect enrollment into the Pre- K program. (Present the latest check stub for both parents or the benefits award letter) NOTE: A temporary notarized guardianship letter is required if someone other than the parent or legal guardian (court ordered guardianship) is coming in to enroll a child in our district. Final approval of such notarized letter will be made by the Office of Admissions and Records at the time of registration. Documentation: Re-entry students must present the following at their zoned campus: DO NOT REPORT TO ADMISSIONS & RECORDS. PARENTS/GUARDIANS MUST PRESENT IDENTIFICATION (For example: Valid driver s license, Texas ID, birth certificate, resident alien card) IMMUNIZATION RECORD (Must be up to date) PROOF OF RESIDENCE (Light, water, natural gas, cable service, DirectTV, Dish Network, telephone land line or (cellular) or waste management bill under the parent s/guardian s name which shows the physical address. If the bill is not under the parent s/guardian s name, a notarized letter stating both the physical and mailing address is required.) UPDATED TRANSCRIPTS/WITHDRAWAL FORMS/REPORT CARD (Current grades or final report card/withdrawal form from previous school; High school students must present their updated transcripts.) 4

Records Retention The school district follows the Texas Records Control Schedule as mandated by TEA and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. This schedule is available online under the Office of Admissions & Records. Our office is responsible to distribute the Texas Records Control Schedule to all departments in November in order to prepare records that are ready to be sent to Admissions & Records during the annual district-wide December pick-up. Campuses will prepare records that are ready to be sent for retention during the month of April. Personnel from Admissions & Records along with district personnel will travel throughout the district in the month of December to collect boxed records for all central office departments. Records pick-up for all campuses will be done in April. An awarded vendor will come in to the district every October to process the collected boxed records. They will determine the retention limits as some may be considered permanent or have already met the retention limit from the state and are ready to be destroyed. The awarded vendor also destroys boxed records that have met the retention limit. The awarded vendor forwards a CD showing all campuses and departments records processing that has occurred. This enables us to be able to retrieve records that are still active from our records buildings. Graduate/Non-Graduate Student Permanent Records Our office is responsible for keeping all graduate/non-graduate student records from this district in the form of hard copies until they become electronic scanned images. Records may be requested in person by filling out the Transcript Request Form or via fax by sending a copy of picture ID, DOB, graduation year, address to be sent, phone number and reason for request. Once the records have been found or are on scanned images, they are sealed, dated and signed by Admissions & Records personnel. Before records are released, the person requesting the records must show a valid picture ID and there is a fee of $1.00. Admissions & Records personnel must also respond to records requests made by universities, colleges, hiring agencies, attorney s offices and state 5

and federal agencies. All requests being sent to our office must include the Student Release of Information Form from the requestor. High Schools turn in the graduate and non-graduate student records to Admissions & Records every November for proper retention. However, the High Schools keep graduate records for two years before submitting them to our office. Elementary and Middle Schools turn in inactive student permanent records every year during the month of November to our office. If students return to the district, the student permanent records are retrieved from the records building by the Records Retention Clerk and forwarded to the requesting campuses. Student Permanent Record Guidelines All district campuses that house student permanent records follow the established District Student Permanent Record Guidelines that became effective in the 2008-2009 school year. See Student Permanent Record Guidelines Booklet online under the Office of Admissions & Records for all procedures and forms. The principal is the custodian of records for his/her campus and have all been trained on the procedures including campus staff that are responsible for the maintenance of the student permanent records. An audit on the permanent record guidelines is conducted on a yearly basis in the months of November/December in order to ensure that all campuses are in compliance. Feedback is provided to all campus principals during the month of February once the audits have been completed. Trainings/Meetings Training for all Texas Records Exchange System (TREx) users is conducted every September by Admissions & Records and the Computer Services Department. Admissions & Records personnel also travel to the campuses to train new employees who are responsible to work with TREx. TREx is mandated by TEA. See Texas Records Exchange (TREx)Training Booklet online under Computer Services Department. See Texas Records Exchange Administrative Guidelines online under the Office of Admissions & Records. Training on the District Student Permanent Record Guidelines Booklet and the Texas Records Control Schedule is conducted every September for new principals, new supervisors/asst. principals, new supervisors/counselor s 6

clerks, new asst. principal clerks and new attendance clerks. If there are very few new employees, campus visits will be made to train personnel. Employees hired during the school year, will be trained individually at the campus by Admissions & Records personnel. Training on the McKinney-Vento Act(Homeless) is conducted every September in collaboration with the Federal Programs Director during the At-Risk training. Admissions & Records Department meetings are held on a bi-weekly basis or as needed. Employees may be asked to attend other meetings within the district or outside of the district. Note: All trainings and meetings(except our regular department meetings) must be emailed to the Staff Development Office in a timely manner so that they can be listed on the Monthly Calendar Items Handout. Board Policy This office will adhere to all state and local policies pertaining to Admissions and Records Management. See online board policies FD(Legal), FD(Local), CPC(Legal), CPC(Local), FL(Legal), FL(Local). District Improvement Plan (DIP) Goal 2.7 - Admissions & Records Program-See DIP online Goal 1.4 D - Staff Development (Trainings)-See DIP online Budget Mail The Admissions & Records Director is responsible to oversee the budget in the department. The secretary enters requisitions for goods and services and final approval is made by the director. The secretary is responsible for ensuring that all Purchase Orders are promptly sent for payment once an order has been received. The secretary and director are responsible for ensuring that all POs are cleared in order for the budget to be released in September. The secretary is responsible to retrieve the mail on a daily basis from the Central Office at Nellie Schunior and the Business Operations Center. 7

Office Decorum All department employees will adhere to the established Admissions & Records Handout entitled General Office Procedures -Teamwork. This will ensure that every employee works in harmony with one another and with the community, OUR CUSTOMERS! 8