Need to register your student and schools are closed? This new BCPS website shows you how
TOWSON, MD. – Parents of students who are new to Baltimore County Public Schools have a new resource to use for registering their students during this time of Coronavirus.
A new page on the BCPS website provides detailed information on the student registration process and on what new arrivals to BCPS need to know. Listed as “Registration During Closure” on the school system’s COVID-19 resource page, it is easily accessible from the BCPS home page.
“We have limited access to buildings and school staff right now, so we wanted to be able to provide families with a means by which they could register their children virtually,” said Dr. Amalio Nieves, executive director of the BCPS Department of Social-Emotional Support. “We wanted to create a safe way for families to upload the documents they needed.”
Among the new features of the page is an online registration form that will be used in lieu of in-person registration at the school as long as schools are closed. Because schools are closed now and likely will be for much of the summer – the traditional time when families register new students – Nieves said an online form is necessary to make the process as seamless, fast, and easy as possible.
“It’s also important for families to do this so that schools can be informed about making decisions, about knowing the number of students they’ll have, about how that will affect their hiring decisions, about classroom structure and having the support and resources for our students to be able to learn,” Nieves said.
Once complete, parents or guardians must submit the form and attach scanned required documents or submit the form and then, once schools are reopened, bring copies of necessary documents to their child’s school. Students cannot be registered until all necessary documentation has been provided. Required documents include proof of Baltimore County residency and a student’s birth certificate, immunization record, and a copy of the child’s most recent report card (if applicable).
The new webpage also contains a school boundaries locator that parents should use to determine which school their children should attend, a list of schools that offer a 3-year-old program for parents of children eligible for Preschool, and information about non-traditional enrollments, how to determine residency, policies governing the registration process, and BCPS schools in general. Online forms for renewal of shared domicile and residency verification for children in Grades 5 and 8 who are transitioning to middle and high schools will be available on the registration webpage soon.