MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Despite it being the first year of online registration for Shelby County Schools, 6,000 students completed registration between Monday and Wednesday.
The school year is already underway. The district confirms about 95,000 students, not including pre-K students, are registered. That is 87 percent of the district’s projected enrollment.
The welcome center on Avery Avenue saw steady traffic Wednesday. Parents and students attempted to complete registration three days after the first bell.
“They wanted the information that they wanted, not the information that I put in the computer, and they sent [my daughter] to a school a world away from where we live,” one frustrated parent said.
He explained that he did the online registration, but there were issues.
He said he has missed several days from work trying to get things sorted out. In the mean time, his daughter is missing class time.
Parent Latanglia Douglas echoed his frustration.
“Going online, SNAPCODEs, email address, a lot of people don’t have an email address,” she said.
“We’ve heard those concerns, and as you know, anytime you change a process or there’s some sort of big change that happens, you’re going to have some growing pains,” SCS spokeswoman Kristin Tallent said.
WREG has also heard positive feedback about the new online registration system.
“It’s very easy, and it’s going by much smoother,” one parent said on the day the new system launched.
It is hard to get a good read on whether enrollment is on a better pace this year compared to the same time last year.
There are a lot of variables, including the fact that last year was the first registration process after some municipalities formed their own districts. Also, numbers are different with state takeovers and charter schools.
Still, SCS said it is pleased with registration so far this year.
“We hit all our internal goals heading into the school year,” Tallent said.
The district said it is calling families whose kids are not registered before truancy numbers roll out possibly next week. Students are truant with five unexcused absences.
