How to withdraw your child from school in texas

Getting Started Homeschooling in Texas

According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), “Homeschooling may be the fastest-growing form of education in the United States (at 7% to 12% per year).” Many American families are realizing the amazing benefits of homeschooling their children.

It was estimated that 1.9 to 2.4 million students K-12 were home educated during the 2005-2006 school year in the United States, and many believe this number is very low. Although homeschooling may be thought of as “not mainstream” by some, it is, in reality, quite common and becoming more “mainstream” every day. Indeed, Home Education, in the purest sense of the term, has been around much longer than todays institutional education.

So, who homeschools? Parents that decide to homeschool represent a true “melting pot” of today’s society. “Homeschooling is quickly growing in popularity among minorities. About 15% of homeschool families are non-white/Anglo” and come from a variety of religious and educational backgrounds (cited by the NHERI).

Academics and MORE!

The academic rewards reaped through homeschooling are statistically clear. According to the NHERI, studies show that students who are home-educated usually score 15 to 30 percentile points higher than public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests, and almost always score above average on the SAT and ACT tests. Coupled with their strong study skills and an overall well-roundedness in their attitudes, manners, and focus, these high scores reflect a high level of academic mastery that colleges and universities have come to recognize resulting in them becoming considerably more active in recruiting Homeschooled students.

Through field trips, scouting, 4-H, community volunteer work, participation in political campaigns at all levels of government, interaction in local home school organizations, plus numerous other venues, students often are exposed to “social” opportunities far greater than what is offered by traditional institutionalized schooling, but with the added advantage of personalized attention for optimum academic growth at the pace that is right for the individual student.

In addition to the obvious scholastic benefits of Homeschooling for children, opportunities for their spiritual development under the leadership of their parents (or one who stands in parental authority) abound. This is true for both students and parents! Under each individual family’s love and guidance, the student is empowered with the personal care and flexibility not available in the typical institutional classroom setting. It is possible to establish, teach, and uphold Christ-centered values and curriculum in the home environment. Furthermore, most home educating families develop strong family bonds because of the quality time together that home educators enjoy.

According to a Texas Supreme Court decision made in June, 1994, Homeschooling is entirely legal in Texas (and in every other state-although laws vary dramatically) and parents who determine that Homeschooling is the best choice for their children and their family will be considered to be private school. Private schools in Texas are not regulated by any government entity. That’s great! HOWEVER, that also means that “the buck stops with Mom and Dad”. You have the RIGHT to Homeschool ... and you have the RESPONSIBILITY to make it happen so that your child is prepared as best as they can be for whatever life's work God may call them to.

So that you will know exactly where you stand legally in Texas if you decide to Homeschool, review and print for keeping in your permanent Homeschool file a copy of the Texas Law that applies to Homeschooling in Texas. Should you have any further questions concerning it, call our office at 972-772-0082 or email your questions to [email protected].

Are You Ready to Get Started? Consider These Steps:

STEP 1: PROPERLY WITHDRAWING YOUR CHILD FROM AN INSTITUTIONAL (public) SCHOOL

If your child is not currently enrolled in a Texas public school (due to age or because your family has recently moved to Texas) or if the child has been attending a private school, you are not required to take any actions before you begin homeschooling. If your child has never attended a public school, you are not required to register them, nor are you required to notify your school district that you intend to homeschool.

If your child is currently enrolled in a public school and you intend to homeschool the child, it will be necessary for you to withdraw your child from the school he or she attends. You can withdraw your child at any time during the calendar year. There is no official form required by the State of Texas to withdraw your children from public school.

We have developed a "Letter of Assurance and Intent to Homeschool” that you can use to withdraw your children from public school. This letter will serve as your official notice to the school administration that you are withdrawing your child from their school. This letter provides assurance to your public school that you will be homeschooling according to the requirements set forth by law.

When withdrawing, some school officials may ask you to submit a curriculum, lesson plans, tests, etc. before you withdraw your child from public school. Legally, you are not required to do so. As long as you return all materials that belong to the school and give them the Letter of Assurance and Intent to Homeschool, the school must officially withdraw your child from their school.

When delivering the letter, you will need to go to the school and return any school property in your child’s possession (textbooks, sports equipment, musical instruments, library books, etc.). Take these items and the letter to the school office to officially withdraw. The school administration may ask you to sign forms they have created specifically for their school, but you are not required to do. Again, there is no State of Texas authorized form for withdrawing your student and registering as a Homeschool parent.

If your child has no school property in his or her possession, you can mail your Letter of Assurance and Intent to Homeschool to the school office. If you choose to mail the letter, we suggest you send it via Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, to the principal or to your student’s counselor.

Note that your Letter of Assurance and Intent to Homeschool requests the school your child has been attending to provide all of your child’s school records, including all medical as well as academic records.

The Texas Open Records Act (TORA) requires that records of your student be considered private information (Chapter 552.026). However, TORA also specifically entitles you (i.e. parent, grandparent, or legal guardian of the student) to have access to ALL of the records pertaining to that student (Chapter 552.023).

Should you encounter difficulty during the process of withdrawing your student from a public school, we will help you in every way that we can. If you have additional questions about withdrawing your student from public school, Contact Us.

STEP 2: ATTEND OUR HOME EDUCATION CONFERENCES

NTHEN’s Conferences and Bookfairs offer exciting opportunities for homeschool parents and students to come together and learn, network, share ideas, and explore the latest educational tools, products, and services.

Our events provide educational seminars, keynote speakers, exhibits, and products available for purchase. Exhibitors include both locally and nationally acclaimed educational development companies, booksellers, subject-specific curricula companies, educational software, and online teaching companies.

Our exhibitors offer cutting-edge services and products to meet the ever-changing needs of the home educating community. And they include many companies owned and operated by homeschool families who offer products and/or services that have met the test of time.

Our Homeschooling Conferences provide an invaluable learning experience for both current and prospective homeschool students and teachers. Friends are made, existing relationships are nourished, and the sharing of ideas and services is a benefit to all who attend.

STEP 3: SETTING UP YOUR CURRICULUM

Choosing a curriculum is part of the foundation of your child’s academic future. No, it’s not THE most important step, but, after all, we are preparing our children for whatever lifes’ work God will call them to do. Your curriculum should support your plan and purpose for home educating. While there is great flexibility in the details, goals should be determined and known by parents and students alike. Establishing reasonable benchmarks and deadlines can also be helpful tools that can be of assistance in the full development of the student. For help in assessing curriculum options Click Here to Learn More.

STEP 4: JOIN ONE (or more) LOCAL SUPPORT GROUPS

Getting and staying involved with your local homeschooling community is one vehicle for providing social development and interaction with others for the student. Finding and joining a local Homeschooling support group affords parents, grandparents, or others (the teachers), opportunities to share and learn from each other, and to participate in various activities and field trips. It serves to provide a basic support network of like-minded people committed to moral and academic excellence.

However, all support groups are NOT alike! Indeed, they can be as different as daylight is from dark. Therefore, parents need to do their “due diligence” on each support group they are considering joining.

As a word of reminder, don’t join a local or regional or state support group just for the sake of joining it. Join with the purpose of giving back to that organization in whatever ways God has gifted you to do so. Most of these organizations NEED your fresh thinking, energy, and your vision. Give back all that you can. For help in locating local Support Groups in your area, click the square button on the top-left of this page.

Our prayer is that God will bless, and keep, and guide you in the days ahead.

Student Enrollment & Withdrawal - Withdrawal Information

State law requires children, ages 6-19, to attend school each day that instruction is provided. To ensure that your child remains in compliance with state and local attendance guidelines, please make sure that you enroll your child in another educational setting immediately after withdrawing them from a Denton ISD campus.

Q: If I am withdrawing my child, do I need to request withdrawal records?

When you withdraw from Denton ISD to enroll in another Texas public school district or charter school, the receiving school will request your student’s records through a state system titled, Texas Records Exchange (TREx). It is not necessary to hand carry your student’s records to the new school, TREx will electronically transmit your student’s records to their new campus. If you withdraw in-person, you will receive a withdrawal packet to take to the receiving campus.

Q: What if I am withdrawing to a school outside of Texas or a private school?

When you withdraw from Denton ISD to enroll in a school outside of Texas or a private school, the new school will usually request records by mail, phone, email, or fax. Once that request is received at the campus, your child’s records will be sent to the receiving school.

Q: How do I withdraw my child(ren) to homeschool?

According to the Texas Education Agency, homeschool students should be withdrawn by school officials when the school receives written notice, either by 1) signing a homeschool withdrawal form (Exhibit J), or 2) by providing a letter of withdrawal including the following components:

Homeschool Withdrawal Letters must include:

1) The homeschool start date

2) A statement that the student will be homeschooled

3) A handwritten signature from the parent or legal guardian

The Exhibit J or homeschool withdrawal letter, with all three elements are to be returned, either in-person or by email, to the campus Registrar. The homeschool Exhibit J can be found below.

Homeschool - Click here to view (Exhibit J) - English

Homeschool - click here to view (Exhibit J) - Spanish

Q: What if I am unable to come to the campus to withdraw my student(s)?

While it is our desire that all withdrawals are in-person, we know that can not always be the case. Therefore, if you are unable to come to the campus and to withdraw your student/s in-person, we ask that you complete the following Withdrawal Notification Form and submit to your student/s' campus registrar. Please also attach a photo ID for identification purposes.

Click here to view the Withdrawal Notification & Intent Form - English

Click here to view the Withdrawal Intent Form - Spanish

Q: How long do I have to register in another school/district?

If Denton ISD does not receive a Request for Records or Verification of Enrollment (VOE) from another school/district, the district is required, under compulsory attendance laws, to implement the truancy process with the student and/or the parent. This may include a referral to truancy court if the student receives unexcused or unverified absences for 10 or more days in a 6-month period or is not enrolled in school or another educational setting immediately after withdrawing from Denton ISD.

Q: Can parents/guardians request withdrawal or other records, if needed?

Additional records requests may be made at any time by the parent, legal guardian of the student, or by the student legally deemed an adult. Records may be requested in writing by completing the Parent Request for School Records' Form (see link below) and emailing it to the campus where the child is enrolled. In order to ensure a timely response, please note that requests made during the summer months will be subject to campus personnel’s available duty days.

Click here to view the Parent Request for School Records' Form - English

Click here to view the Parent Request for School Records' Form - Spanish

Q: How do I request a Verification of Enrollment (VOE) Form?

A parent/guardian may make a VOE, Verification of Enrollment, request in writing from their child's campus as proof of enrollment for driver's education, Child Support, Social Security Benefits, or Insurance Benefits, etc.

Q: What if my student/s still have district issued equipment or devices?

Upon or prior to withdrawal, students must turn in all district issued textbooks, classroom issued books, library books, technology, and any equipment/uniforms issued from coaches/directors. If district issued materials are not returned, parents/guardians and/or students may be subject to a fine and temporary holding of transcripts and/or report cards.

How to enroll a child in school in the USA - Immigrant today

Hello everyone! This is Shushanik, author of the blog “USAdvice.ru. All about the USA. And today, as I promised in yesterday's video, I will talk about registering a child for school. I was once asked this question, but at that time I was not at all familiar with the system for registering children in school. And just recently, my friends came here, and they registered the child in elementary school. And I helped with the design, and I learned the process of how it all happens. So today I will talk about it. I’ll make a reservation right away that, perhaps, this only applies to California. I suspect that the rules are approximately the same everywhere, but each state may have its own laws, that is, somewhere, maybe some additional piece of paper is needed. What I'm going to talk about is specifically about California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley.

The first thing to know is that it is best to enroll your children in school before the start of the school year, because then you can get into the school you belong to. If you watched my video on finding apartments in the USA, then you probably already know that here, unlike the CIS countries, a child can only be sent to the school that your home is assigned to. That is, if you are in a microdistrict or, as they say here, a district, of a particular school, only your child can go there.

Therefore, it often happens here that identical houses, literally located on opposite streets, can cost very different amounts, because if the house belongs to a good district, and there is a good school, then the house will cost much more. Therefore, the children of the owner of this house will go to a good school. And if the house on the opposite side of the street belongs to a bad school, then, accordingly, it will cost much less, because the children will have to go to a bad school.

If you register a child before the school year begins, in my opinion, there until August, if I'm not mistaken, they have a deadline for receiving documents, then you will definitely enroll him in a school that belongs to your home. If it happens in the middle of the school year, as happened in this case, then there may be difficulties. It so happened that the school, to which the house in which this child lives, the parents of the child, was registered, was completely packed. They enrolled him in the fifth grade, and the fifth grade was full, so they had to choose from the three remaining schools in this district that had free places.

In this situation, it was not so important, except that it took longer to transport the child, it takes more time, but all the schools there were approximately the same. In another district, it may turn out that even if you live where there is a good school, it may already be full, and the child will have to go to a bad one. This situation may also arise. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that you may not be in the school you belong to if you enroll your child in the middle of the year.

So let's talk about what it takes to enroll a child in elementary school. The junior school here is from kindergarten, that is, from the age of five, it's like a preparatory class, and up to the fifth, including the fifth grade. In order to enroll a child in a school, you must go to this school, take an admission packet from their office, they will give it to you, and fill it out.

I'll tell you right away what documents are needed so that people know what to bring with them. Naturally, the birth certificate of the child. It needs to be translated into English, but you can do it yourself, they do not require any translator's translations, notarized, at least they did not require anything. You can translate everything yourself. You also need a certificate of vaccinations, exactly the same certificate with which you enroll a child in a school in Ukraine, at least. That is, with the seal of a clinic or a doctor. You can bring exactly the same certificate here, but, again, it must be translated. You can also translate it.

I'll tell you now what vaccinations are needed here. In principle, the same as in Ukraine. There was only one difference. So, 4 vaccinations against polio, in Ukraine it was the same. Diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough - 5 vaccinations, the same. Measles, mumps, rubella - 2 vaccinations. Hepatitis B - 3 vaccinations. And also either a chickenpox vaccine, which is not done in the CIS countries, or proof that the child was sick. That is, if the child had chickenpox, the doctor must write the date when he was ill and sign. They also want a manta to be made within the last six months. But, the fact is that even if you make it in your own country, when you come here, they still want to make it anew. So be prepared for that too.

And the only difference that was in this case is that they here also want a whooping cough shot to give the child at 7 years old when he starts school. In Ukraine, in my opinion, this is not done. They do it there only when the children are small. That is, that was the only difference, although I don’t know, maybe it’s just that in this case the child did not have this vaccine. But he had to be vaccinated, and mantoux.

As an alternative to moving to America, we recommend that you consider immigrating to Canada. It is a calmer country that welcomes new people.

How to arrange a child in an American school? 4 main steps and what needs to be done before them

Immigration with children is a difficult and costly business. But we have good news: America’s unspoken motto “Children are our everything” is perfectly visible in US laws and makes it much easier for parents to move. Almost any necessary resources for raising a child are provided here to everyone, regardless of the status of residence.

One of the most important questions for parents moving to another country is: “How can I get my kids into school?” In this article, we will look at what documents are required for admission, how to look for an educational institution and what facts you should pay attention to when choosing a school.

Content of the article:

What schools are there in the USA?
What language will the child learn?
Getting your child ready for school: 4 easy steps
We entered: what does the child need to take with him to school?
Immigrants' Frequently Asked Questions About American School
And finally - do not be afraid to change your mind

What kind of schools are there in the USA?

The American education system divides the 12-year education into separate schools, which can be either in the same building or be completely independent educational institutions. For example, schools can teach children from 3-4 to 10 years old, and then the child moves to another school, which is already intended for children from 11 years old.

Before choosing an educational institution, you need to find out which one your child is suitable for by age. Below is a table of school types and the corresponding age of the child, as well as payment information.

Types of schools	Age	Payment
Pre-school education Only private kindergartens (Baby Care).	up to 3-4 years old	State fee not covered
Elementary school (elementary school) from kindergarten to grade 5. This includes *PreK* (ages 3-4 to 5-6) and *Kindergarden* (ages 5-6 to 6-7), where the former is optional and the latter is already part of the American educational system and required to visit.	from 3-4 to 10 years old	Free education
Middle school	6th to 8th grade (11-13 years old)	Free education
High school	9th to 12th grade (14-18 years old)	Free education

Once you've figured out which type of school is right for your child, you can start looking for suitable schools. However, there is another important nuance - the language of instruction.

What language will the child study?

Almost every school in the US promises to communicate with you in the language that is convenient for you. Feel free to go to the school administration, they will find a native speaker of your language for you, and you can find out all your questions.

The school administration will definitely ask you how well your child knows English. Remember that adults are not the only ones experiencing immigration stress. A child, entering a new educational institution, meeting new people, is already in a stressful situation. Therefore, parents should consider the existing options for language learning, and based on the nature of the child, choose where he will be more comfortable.

There are two programs in US schools for non-English speakers, ENL and BNL.

ENL - class, where speakers of the same language are assigned, with smooth retraining into English.

BNL - class for children who speak different languages, with a smooth transition to English.

The second one is more common in American schools, for the first one there must be a sufficient number of students who speak the same language. Parents in this case sign a petition for the opening of such a special class. Before filling out the documents, make sure that the required version of the special class is available at the educational institution of your choice.

Getting your child into school: 4 simple steps

How to find the right school? What documents to prepare? What does a child need to study? Let's consider each step in order.

Step #1 - Find a school in your area

How do you know which school to apply to? To do this, there are online services that determine which school you belong to where you live. In America there is a system school zoning. This is not the same as the area of residence. The territory of the state is divided into zones so that schools have an equal girth of children living nearby.

For example, a statewide school search site:

➩ New York: https://schoolzones.us

➩ Florida: https://edudata.fldoe.org

➩ Texas: https://tea. texas.gov

You can use Google search to find your state's online resource. Let me show you an example of how I myself was looking for a school.

1. Enter “ (state) school zoning map ” in the search engine (I was looking for a school in the state of New York, so I wrote NYC).

2. Next, enter your address in the opened service. After that, the map will display the state zones and highlight yours.

There can be one or more schools in the designated area (let me remind you that Elementary, Middle or High are usually separated, but they can all be in one building).

Only one school came out in my zone and it includes education only in PreK and Elementary School. If you have the same situation, and your children are older, you can contact the school in your zone, the administration will give a list of educational institutions in the upper grades of which your children can be enrolled.

Step #2 — We collect documents for admission to school

So, having chosen a school, we prepare documents. You will need:

a copy of the child's birth certificate with a notarized translation,
medical forms completed by a local doctor,
proof of residence.

Birth certificate

A notarized copy can be made in your home country or in the United States.

Personal recommendation: carefully check the translations. In mine, a mistake was made in one letter in the name, which caused unnecessary trouble with the design of a new translation.

Medical form

When you visit the school administration, you will be given a medical form to complete with your pediatrician. The doctors themselves have this form, it is the same for all schools, so you can go to a medical institution even before visiting an educational institution.

Which pediatrician should I go to? In the US, a family doctor is not tied to a place of residence. You can choose any doctor or clinic that suits you. But how to do it if you don't know local doctors?

I listened to the opinion of my friends and relatives who praised a certain doctor. If there are no acquaintances, you can seek advice from groups on social networks.

After choosing a doctor based on reviews and recommendations, we do the following:

➩ we find out what types of insurance the clinic of the selected doctor works with (we will consider insurance registration below),

➩ we call our insurance company and attach the child to this particular doctor. Do not worry about the language - during the call, you will be provided with an interpreter, he will be the third person in touch.

Having assigned a doctor by phone, you can immediately go to an appointment, as this is already displayed in the system. And in about a week, a new card will come to the post office (the first one comes when you apply for insurance), which will indicate the name of the selected doctor.

We bring with us all documentation about children’s vaccinations to the doctor’s appointment:

➩ questionnaires from the polyclinic, where the vaccinations received at home are indicated (in my case, in our polyclinic we were given a separate statement for all vaccinations),

➩ vaccination certificates from private vaccination centers, if available.

However, the above will only be sufficient for clinics where they speak and understand the language in which these extracts and certificates are issued. But a state type medical institution will ask you to provide an international certificate of vaccination in English - Immunization record . It is better to do it in advance at home in any private vaccination center, where you will bring all the same extracts and vaccination certificates.

Here, for example, is an international certificate of vaccination, which I made in my homeland at the private vaccination center “Soriz”:

If you have not received such a certificate, but are already in the United States, you have two options:

already from America to apply for a certificate to your home country (depending on the country you came from),
to identify the child not in a state medical institution, but to find a private clinic where they speak and understand your native language.

Health insurance

In the US, medical services are provided only in two ways - for a fee with a direct visit to the doctor or through insurance. Paying for medicine in America is very expensive, so the vast majority of the country's residents take out insurance.

What is health insurance and what are the ways to get it for adults read here. In this article, we will only consider obtaining insurance for children.

So, insurance for children is absolutely free, you do not pay monthly premiums. It covers the entire list of medical services necessary for a child, including various specialized specialists (dentist, ophthalmologist, etc.).

Where can I get insurance?

There are two types of coverage for children:

⇒ Medicade: State coverage

If you are self-pursuing public health coverage for children, you must contact your local health department in your state. In New York, for example, this is the New York State Department of Health.

Your child gets Medicaid there, the card comes in the mail. It's statewide child insurance. With it, you can go to see doctors at any public medical institution. But be prepared to schedule an appointment in advance and still sit in line for several hours. And an important fact - many private clinics do not work with this type of insurance .

⇒ Insurance from a private company

The second option is to take out insurance through a private insurance company. The company itself will first of all issue you state insurance, and the Medicaid card will come to you by mail first, and after it the card from the company itself. Save both! Because from the second you will go to the doctors, and on the first there may be accruals from the state. For example, they are issued with low family income, in the event of a pandemic, with financial support from families from the state, etc.

This information is usually provided by the school administration, but you can also search the web for the current benefits and payments to which you are entitled.

Note: Personally, I recommend going to private insurance companies (Fidelis Care, Health First, etc. ), since most pediatricians in private clinics work with this type of insurance.

So, let's summarize the sequence of actions:

preparing vaccination certificates,
arrange insurance for a child,
choosing a doctor,
call the insurance company and approve the chosen doctor,
going to an appointment to receive a medical form.

Step #3 - Confirming the place of residence

After passing the medical examination, you need to add only one document to the acquired completed questionnaires and birth certificate - proof of residential address . For what? The school must make sure that your child belongs to them in the zone. But visitors, as a rule, have different situations with their place of residence and legality. Let's take a look at the three most popular ones.

If I rent an apartment and am in the US legally?
A so-called bill is required, that is, a bill for any utility bill, which will indicate your name.

If I rent an apartment, but I'm in the US illegally?
So you can't legally rent the space yourself. But the American education system makes it possible to study for free even for those children whose parents are illegally in the United States. If the person you live with can come and confirm that the children live with him, and bring with him any utility bill in his name, then you can count on your child to be accepted for training.

What if I want to send my child to a school outside of our area of residence?
In this case, the school zone should include the address of the person your children live with. Sometimes the newcomers themselves live in a rented room, while the children are left in a large house with relatives or friends. It is in such a situation that the school will consider not the address of the parents' residence, but the nominal place of residence of the children. We need a person who will guarantee that the children live with him. This also applies to people with the situation in the second paragraph.

Step #4 - Getting confirmation from the school

Once you have submitted all the required paperwork, the school is ready to accept your child. I brought my documents on Friday, and I was immediately offered to send the children to classes. Of course, due to the fact that the offer was unexpected, we asked to start studying on Monday.

The exceptions are the ENL special class (where it is necessary to wait for enrollment, we talked about this above) and Kindergarden (as a rule, students are enrolled several months before enrollment, so it is more difficult to place a child in this class).

For information: If your older child is studying (enrolled) in a school, and the younger one needs to go to Kindergarden, where all the places are filled, it is very likely that the younger one will be accepted to the same school. The US education system provides not only for the education of brothers and sisters in the same school, but also in a number of situations, payment discounts.

We entered: what does the child need to bring with him to school?

Is that a knapsack. And a couple of office supplies. As a rule, the necessary books and notebooks are issued by the school itself.

Breakfast and lunch are free of charge. When a child enters school, you indicate your income, and it is usually small for newcomers, as a result, the state helps in this matter.

However, I still collect lunch boxes for my children as they are still getting used to new foods and tastes. They are more comfortable eating what they have with them and what they like.

FAQ: Frequently asked questions by immigrants about the American school.

- How much money should parents in the US spend to get their child into school?
– If all documents are executed in sequence, no payment will be required. However, from our own experience: not being able to get a normal job, we did not wait for the cards from the insurance company to arrive, and gave money for the first appointment with the doctor in order to get medical forms faster and send the children to study. For two children, we paid $160 at the clinic. The insurance cards came a month after the children had already started school.

– Is there a dress code in schools? What form to prepare?
– The vast majority of public schools do not have a dress code. It is present in private schools. And if you enroll your child in a private school, the administration will tell you how and where to get the form, or give it to the child (depending on the educational institution).

- What is the situation with children's meals in schools?
– Children have breakfast and lunch at school. In PreK and Kindergarden they are given to all children without exception. Starting with Elementary School, meals are only given to children whose parents have a low income (you indicate your income when your child enrolls in school on the family income card).

- Is it possible to leave children at school for a full day?
– Schools have the option to leave children after school, the so-called “After school” until 6 pm. She is paid. In our school it costs $600 per month.

- What should I indicate when filling out the questionnaire on family income if none of the parents is currently working?
– The most important thing is to write everything honestly, without embellishing or hiding income. In the United States, there are severe penalties for concealing or deceiving, ranging from fines to imprisonment or deportation. If none of you are currently working, write “0” in the income column.

– What if the parents have to work and the children have holidays at school?
- Public schools have a summer school program called "Summer School" that you need to sign up for in advance through your state's official resources. In New York, this is, for example, https://www.schools.nyc.gov.

If your state does not have access to such a program, there are many private schools that organize summer camps (Summer Camp), where the child can be for several hours or all day.