Update Sept. 18, 2020: Please direct all registration inquiries to the school where you are registering your child. If you contact the school’s main phone number and leave a message, someone from the school will contact you within 48 hours. Families unable to complete the registration process online are able to register by using the Student Registration Document Drop Off Process. The School Health Entry Requirements for the 2020-21 school year have been extended, so please visit the “School health Forms” section below for additional information.
2020-21 School Year Conditional Online Registration
In order to register a child in a Commonwealth of Virginia public school, state law requires a parent or legal guardian of a student to provide certain information to the student’s school division during the registration process. (Virginia Code §22.1-4.1 and § 22.1-3.1). Additional information about registration and school options can be found in the Guidebook for Parents.
Only students new to APS need to register. Once students are registered, students do not need to be registered again each school year.
Before registering, families are encouraged to review the Student Registration Checklist English | Spanish
Registration Process
1. Determine Arlington Residency:
All students attending Arlington Public Schools (APS) must reside in Arlington County with a parent or legal guardian. To determine if an address qualifies to attend APS or the neighborhood school based on an address, enter the home address in the APS Boundary (Attendance Area) Locator.
If you are a student or family experiencing homelessness and are trying to register for APS, please contact the APS Homeless Liaison Barbara Fisher at 571-424-0788 or barbara.fisher@apsva.us.
2. Complete the Arlington Public Schools Student Registration Form
A parent or legal guardian needs to download and fill out the APS Student Registration form for each child being registered.
You must download the form and then use Adobe Acrobat Reader to complete the form. If you use your browser to complete the form, you won’t be able to save your changes.
Download the Student Registration Form English | Spanish
*Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to complete the downloaded APS Student Registration Form
3. Gather Required Registration Documents
Parents or legal guardians registering their child in APS must provide the following documents during the registration process (a convenient way is to use a smartphone to take a picture of the document, just be sure to look at the picture to ensure it is in focus and legible):
- Proof of residency
- One primary document supporting residency
- And any two of the following supporting documents that show your name and address: Current federal, state or property tax returns; Current payroll or withholding statement; Vehicle registration; Current utility bills; Valid Virginia driver’s license with current address; Documentation of financial assistance from Arlington County.
- Proof of student’s age and legal name – an original birth certificate or certified copy translated into English, if necessary.
- Valid government-issued identification for the parent – a government-issued ID can only be used to verify identity, not Arlington residency
4. Gather Additional Educational Documents
Current Individualized Education Program (IEP), 504 Plan, English Learner or gifted records, and school records or official transcripts from the previous school attended.
If you are registering your child for Kindergarten, please complete the fillable Pre-K Experience Form English | Spanish
5. Upload Registration Documents
Upload your child’s completed Student Registration Form and all the required registration documents. If you are registering multiple children, you may upload documents for all of the children at the same time. Photos of documents are able to be uploaded. If you are using an iPhone, please select the option to ‘take picture or video’ when uploading.
Be sure to note the name and email address you use, you will use the same parent name and the same email address if the registrar asks you for additional documents.
There are two different ways to securely upload your documents. NOTE: A small number of individuals have reported timeouts with the step by step process. If you experience technical difficulties, try the one-step upload instead.
- Step by step upload – This will take you through 7 steps, asking you to upload specific documents at each step. Best if you want to be sure you are uploading all required documents.
- One-step upload – This will allow you to upload all documents at one time. Best if you have used the checklist and are certain you have all of the documents or had technical difficulties with the step by step process. If you are using an iPhone, please select the option to ‘take picture or video’ when uploading your documents.
6. Attend Virtual Meeting with an APS Registrar
An APS staff member will contact the registering parent or legal guardian after the registration documents are received to set up a virtual meeting. During the virtual meeting, a staff member will review all registration documents submitted, answer questions, and provide next steps in the registration process. It is requested that families have all original documents available at the time of the scheduled virtual meeting.
School Health Forms
The School Health Entry Requirements for the 2020-21 school year have been extended and families have additional time to submit these documents. Please visit the following document to view the new requirement dates: School Health Entry Requirement Dates for the 2020-21 School Year.
Families are required to submit the Commonwealth of Virginia School Entrance Health Form and Tuberculosis Screening Certificate during the conditional registration process to ensure their child will be able to start school in time for the new school year. If your child will need medications or special procedures during school, visit the Arlington County School Health webpage for additional forms, including medication authorization forms and care plans that need to be completed and submitted to the school clinic. For questions any questions regarding school health or the health forms, please contact your child’s School Health Office directly.
The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and Virginia Health Services (VHS) have not waived the health requirements for the 2020-21 school year, even though it will begin with the full-time distance learning model, so families must still submit the required health documents during the registration process.
Privacy and Security
For privacy and information security reasons, families should never send personally identifiable information through email and should always upload them through the secure upload website. Personally identifiable information is information that, alone or in combination, can be linked to a specific student, including but not limited to:
- Name of student, parents, or other family members;
- Address of student, parents, or other family members;
- Personal identifier, such as a Social Security Number, APS student ID, or health records.
- Indirect identifiers, such as date of birth, place of birth, or mother’s maiden name.
No APS employee will ever email or call families requesting any personally identifiable information be submitted through email. If you do receive an email requesting this information, please disregard it because it may be a phishing email attempting to receive access to your personally identifiable information. If you receive a call requesting this information, only submit the documentation through the secure upload portal and not through email.
For additional information or questions, please contact the APS Welcome Center at 703-228-8000 or schooloptions@apsva.us.
