New Student / Kindergarten Registration Requirements

• Official State-issued birth certificate (child must be 5 years old by September 30).
• Proof of Residency. All items listed below are required.
  • Picture ID: Driver's license, DMV ID, military ID or other picture ID AND
  • Current mortgage statement, lease, or rental agreement or tax assessment AND
  • current electric bill (dated within the past 30 days).
• Up-to-date immunization record.
• Physical that is dated no more than 12 months before the first day of school.
• Completed SCHOOL ENTRANCE FORMS.

Transfer students must provide Richmond County Public Schools with the following:

• Birth Certificate
• Proof of Residency (same as above).
• Completed SCHOOL ENTRANCE FORMS

Residency Guidelines Richmond County Public Schools 

Highlights of the Policies and Regulations – Policy JEC and JEC-R

"Residence" is defined as a domicile of an individual, meaning that the individual lives there with the intent to make it a fixed, permanent home and primary residence. A person may not buy or rent a domicile in his or her name for the purpose of establishing residency in a district, but have it remain empty or sublease it while reporting and maintaining that it is his or her current, primary residence. In order to be considered a primary residence, a person must reside, sleep, and perform daily living functions there. Utility bills and the like must be addressed to the individual at the primary residence address.

Richmond County Public Schools’ policy states that a child must attend school in the district where he/she resides with a parent or legal guardian unless otherwise approved as a non-resident.

• Burden of proof for documenting residency rests with the parent/legal guardian.
• Parent/legal guardian must verify their residency when their child:
  • enters kindergarten,
  • initially enrolls in Richmond County Public Schools (RCPS),   
  • moves at anytime, or   
  • when there is reasonable suspicion that the student is not living at reported address.

• Copies of each residency document will be maintained in the student’s file. Personal information will be deleted.

• Parent/legal guardian must report an address change and provide residency documentation within ten business days of their move.
• Failure to report an address change or provide residency documentation in the required timeframe will result in:
  • denied transportation services until the address is reported and documented at RCPS and
  • the student may be withdrawn and transferred from RCPS to the school division in which the student resides within five business days of written notification to the parent or legal guardian.

The full policy can be found at www.richmond-county.k12.va.us. The Code of Virginia § 22.1-264.1 states, “Any person who knowingly makes a false statement concerning the residency of a child, as determined by § 22.1-3, in a particular school division or school attendance zone, for the purposes of (i) avoiding the tuition charges authorized by § 22.1-5 or (ii) enrollment in a school outside the attendance zone in which the student resides, shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor and shall be liable to the school division in which the child was enrolled as a result of such false statements for tuition charges, pursuant to § 22.1-5, for the time the student was enrolled in such school division.”

• Only a natural parent, adoptive parent, court appointed legal custodian or a person with a military power of attorney may enroll a child. (Nonmilitary or traditional powers of attorney are not acceptable.)
• A foster parent may enroll a child with the consent of the child’s legal custodian. Foster parents enrolling children in their care must present at enrollment a copy of the court order that identifies the child’s legal custodian