Frequently Asked Questions

Registration is the first step in enrolling your child or the intent to attend. Your child is enrolled in a school once all required steps have been completed, including filling out the online student packet that is emailed to all parents in the spring.

If you need to enroll your child for the current school year, we invite you to please visit the District Office, 750 Bradford St., Redwood City, to register in person. 

Please bring:

• Student’s birth certificate
• Student’s immunization record
• Parent or guardian picture ID
• Proof of address (two different documents are needed)

Note: Students who register over or after the summer break are only temporarily enrolled in their neighborhood school for the first 10 days of the school year, and may be moved if the principal and superintendent determine there are not enough seats available at your child’s grade level. Neighborhood students have priority based on space available. If space is not available at the neighborhood school, students will be placed at a different school until space becomes available at their neighborhood school. Students are enrolled in the order in which they register. 

If you want your child to attend a program at another school, please fill out the School of Choice online application after completing your registration form.

You may register your child using our online registration form or you may visit the district office to register in person. Please check our website's Registration Timeline page for registration dates and deadline information.

If you are a new parent looking to learn more about RCSD and it's award-winining programs and schools, we invite you to be on the lookout for details about Meet RCSD Night, which is an annual event organized especially for new families where they'll learn more about why families choose and love Redwood City School District.

Yes, students are enrolled in their assigned neighborhood schools in the order in which their registration is submitted to the online registration system.

If classes are already filled at the time a student registers, students will be assigned to another school in the district and will be placed on a waiting list for their neighborhood school. They will be admitted to the neighborhood school in the order in which they registered as spaces become available. 

Registration for Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is the same as for Kindergarten.
 

On the enrollment application, families will state site preferences. The student will be automatically placed based on seat availability and the order in which the family turned in the application with all completed and required documents. 

Should there not be seats available at the school sites the family selected, the student will be placed on a waitlist until seats become available. Enrollment staff contacts families as soon as seats become available.

Yes. At the end of the school year, all TK students are automatically rolled over to Kindergarten at the same school site.

Should the family decide they would like to attend a different program for Kindergarten, the family needs to either:

• Registered at their assigned neighborhood school or
• Fill out a School of Choice form if they would like to transfer to a school or program other than their neighborhood school. 

Registration for Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is the same as for all grade levels in RCSD. Families enroll at their assigned neighborhood school. Should the family want their student to attend a program other than their assigned neighborhood school, the family will need to fill out a School of Choice (SOC) application. 

To complete the student’s registration, families will need to upload the following:

• Student’s birth certificate or passport

• Two (2) different and current documents showing proof of residence: utility bills, rental agreement, vehicle registration, notarized letter from landlord or renter and utilities bill in their name (renting room). Current is defined as showing a date of within the last two months.

• Parent or guardian’s photo ID (i.e. driver’s license or passport)

• Student’s immunization record

• In addition, please note:

  • Health Exam by a physician is required for kindergarten or 90 days following entry into first grade.

  • Oral health assessment is required by kindergarten or first grader enrolling in public school for their first time.

Please note: Your application will be completed once all documents have been uploaded and received by RCSD. Once all documents have been turned in, RCSD will then process registration for placement.

All families enroll at their assigned neighborhood school.

Should the family want their student to attend a program other than their assigned neighborhood school, the family will need to complete the following within the priority window:

1. Have an approved registration application. This means all required documents for registration need to be completed and approved. 
2. Fill out a School of Choice (SOC) application. 

All SOC applicants are then entered into a random computerized lottery. Per the SOC process, neighborhood students and siblings have priority for placement. Should there be more applicants than seats available, those students will be placed on a waitlist in order of the lottery results. 

Families who apply after the priority window will be placed based on seat availability and in the order the application is received. Staff contacts families as soon as seats become available.

Yes. At the end of the school year, all TK students are automatically rolled over to Kindergarten at the same school site. Should the family decide they would like to attend a different program for Kindergarten, the family needs to fill out a School of Choice form in order to transfer.

A neighborhood school is the school that is assigned to a student’s residential address.  The boundaries for a neighborhood school are determined by the Board of Education.

No. Several schools house district-wide specialized programs that students may only attend if they complete a School of Choice application. These programs are:

• Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion School
• Mandarin Immersion Program at Orion Alternative School 
• McKinley Institute of Technology
• North Star Academy
• Parent Co-Op Program at Orion Alternative School 

Families must first register their child before applying for a School of Choice transfer. Please fill out the Registration Form first. You will then have the option to fill out a School of Choice transfer request.

*North Star Academy students must pass an entry exam and complete the required paperwork before being added to the school's lottery. Please go to North Star's website for more information about requirements, testing, and placement. The application process for North Star Academy is only available once a year during the priority window in the fall. 

Yes. Students who live within the boundary of a neighborhood school get first priority for attending based on space available.

Students are guaranteed placement in their neighborhood school if space is available at the time they register. However, if their grade level is already full at the time of registration they will be assigned to another school in the district. They will be admitted to the neighborhood school in the order in which they registered as seats become available.

Redwood City School District offers a variety of school options. All students are assigned to a “neighborhood school” based on their home address. Families  who wish to attend a program other than their assigned neighborhood school need to fill out a “School of Choice” application.

During the School of Choice process, families can choose one program for which to apply as School of Choice only accepts one application per student. 

Once a family accepts to transfer to a new program or school through the School of Choice process, accepting placement means that they now have a new school. This means that students must re-apply by filling out a new online School of Choice application if they want to move to a different school. 

Families may transfer back to their assigned neighborhood school by providing proof of address and pending seat availability. 

Registration is the first step in enrolling in the Redwood City School District. All students must register into their neighborhood school. 

Students who want to attend a program or school other than their neighborhood school, must fill out a School of Choice application. Applicants can only move forward in the School of Choice process once their registration application is complete and approved with all required documents submitted to the district. 

Students who want to attend their assigned neighborhood school do NOT have to fill out a School of Choice application.

No. RCSD only welcomes students whose parents work within the school district's attendance zone. Please refer to the interdistrict transfer process. 

Twins will be placed together, according to the School of Choice Priority Order of Placement. Twins who are assigned a random eligibility number will be placed according to the number of the twin with the most favorable place on the waiting list.

The district cannot guarantee that siblings at different grade levels will be placed at the same school. Each sibling application is considered separately.

Yes. In order to keep their student’s place on the waitlist, parents must submit a new School of Choice online application during the open priority period.  The waitlist place will carry over from year to year as long as a new application is resubmitted each year. If a parent does not submit a new online School of Choice application each year, the student will lose their spot on the waitlist.

No. When a student on the wait list is offered placement, the student needs to accept or decline. Students who accept their placement and attend their school of choice do not need to reapply. Students who do not accept placement will be removed from the wait list.

Students who applied during the lottery phase and are on a waitlist have the option of submitting a new application in the spring to a school with a shorter waitlist and they will be added to that waitlist in the order in which they apply. Students who submit a new application will be removed from the current waitlist.  Students cannot be on more than one waitlist at one time.

California law dictates that your child must be 5 years old on or before September 1.

Kindergartners who register at the start of the priority window in the fall, will almost always able to attend their assigned neighborhood school, if they wish to do so. Please check our Registration Timeline page for important dates. 

Students who register after or just before school begins, occasionally get assigned to another school until a spot opens up in their neighborhood school.

Language immersion is a method of instruction where the learner's target language is the language used in classroom instruction. It is one of the most effective and natural ways to learn a second language.

No. The Mandarin Immersion and Spanish Immersion Programs are school programs within the Redwood City School District. The Spanish Immersion Program for grades Pre-K, TK, and  K-5 is located on the Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion School campus and the Mandarin Immersion Program for grades TK and K-5 is located on the Orion Alternative campus; all 6-8 language immersion programs are at Kennedy Middle School.

Yes. Every school in the district offers support to students who are learning English.

All students may apply for any program option of their choice, regardless of their home language. Please call the district Department of English Language Development (ELD) and Categorical Services, 650-482-2222, or call the school, if you have questions about which program may be best for your student.

We provide special education and related services at each RCSD school and include program modifications and adaptations, general and special education collaboration, specialized teaching strategies and tutorial assistance. 

The enrollment criteria for special education students at the schools is the same as for the general student population. Please call the district Department of Special Education, 650-482-2258, or call the school, if you have questions about which program may be best for your student.