SOCSD returning student registration to open next week

Online registration for returning students in the Starkville-oktibbeha Consolidated School District is set to begin next week, while new student registration continues.

Returning student registration will open on Wednesday, July 8, and will last until school begins. Registration will be all-online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and proof of residency is not required for students whose addresses did not change between last school year and the current year. However, two proofs of residency will still be required for those students whose residency has changed.

“The state auditor waived the proof of residency requirement for the 2020-2021 school year if your address is unchanged from the previous year,” said SOCSD Public Information Officer Nicole Thomas. “If you had a child in second grade and the address for his second grade year and his proofs of residency are the same for the third grade year, then you will not have to provide two new proofs of residency.”

For those whose address will change before school starts, one document each is required from two groups.

Group one includes: mortgage statements, property tax bills, filed homestead exemption applications, apartment or home leases and filed property or warranty deeds. Group two consists of: medical bills, credit card statements, health insurance policies, state or federal benefit checks, salary check stubs, government mailings and bank statements.

Automobile registrations and voter precinct identifications are not acceptable as proofs of residency.

“Parents will have to sign off with an electronic signature that their address is unchanged when they complete their online registration forms, but they would not be required to provide two proofs of residency for the upcoming year if their address is unchanged,” Thomas said.

Updated immunization records will be required for some students in the district. Students going from sixth to seventh grade, as well as new students in the district will be required to submit proof of their tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap) vaccine.

“In previous years we haven’t allowed parents to submit that form electronically, but that electronic upload option is

enabled for the current year,” Thomas said.

New student registration has also been underway online since March. There is no deadline, but the sooner families register their new students, the easier it will be for the district to plan for the coming school year.

“We want to make sure that they do go ahead and register quickly, so that we can go ahead and have that prepared, and you know, notify parents of who those class assignments are as quickly as possible with all the changes,” said Sudduth Elementary School Principal Morgan Abraham.

Abraham said the registration would also help with a headcount of who was choosing the traditional face-to-face version of school versus online.

“The more people register now, the easier it is for us to plan,” Thomas said.

The district is currently working on a virtual option to replace its mass on-site registration days usually held in July, where schedules and teacher assignments are also distributed.

“In order to do that, they will have to have all registration compete,” Thomas said.

Registration is available through the district website, those with questions can contact the district at 662-615-0013 or eward@starkvillesd.com, or nthomas@starkvillesd.com.