Semester abroad in San Diego (with three kids) (Chula Vista, Vista: lease, home) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

mariogomez · 06-23-2011, 02:24 PM

Hey guys,

I really appreciate this forum and saw lots of interesting threads.
As lots of you already have kids and are therefore familiar with schooling issues, you could probably help my sister a lot.

At the mid of August my sister will move to San Diego together with her three children.
She will spend there one or two semesters as an exchange student at SDSU with an F1 nonimmigrant visa. So the children would accompany her with F2 nonimmigrant visas.

The kids (9, 11 and 17 years old) would probably need to be enrolled in an elementary, middle or high school respectively.

As we are from Germany we are not very familiar with the US school system and would really appreciate further information from you:

Is it necessary to register the kids prior to arrival at a school or can this be done spontaneously?
What would be the next steps after arrival? Do we need special documents from Germany or from San Diego municipality to register the kids?
Do schools for instance need translated school report cards/grades from the German schools?

How does a school day typically look like? From when to when are the school times (morning to noon/afternoon)?
How expensive are prices for school meals approximately?
What about school books? Would these need to be bought prior to school start? Or is there any possiblity to borrow them from school?

Thank you in advance.

Kind regards from Germany
Mario

janineg · 06-25-2011, 10:09 PM

To register, you'll need to show some sort of proof that you live in the area that serves your school. Go to a school district website (maybe San Diego Unified) to get details. You can do it when you arrive, but maybe you'll be able to start on it from Germany?
You don't need to buy any books until college, so don't worry about that. The books are leant to the students for the year. School lunches are pretty cheap (less than $5), but not very high quality. I send a lunch from home with my child. Elementary school typically last from 8:00-2:30. I don't think you'll need report card from old schools. Maybe you would need them to show that you child should be in advanced level classes, though.
This website has some information about particular schools, to help you compare them. She might need it to help her decided where to live: GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community

moved · 06-25-2011, 10:32 PM

Does your sister know where area she'll be living in yet? To start the enrollment process, she'll have to show proof of residence, either a copy of her lease or a utility bill. She'll will need copies of their report cards, immunization records, and other documents that they can tell you about. School is out for the summer, but the office staff and teachers will be returning the last week of August to get the schools ready for fall.

MaiTaiMary · 06-26-2011, 09:05 AM

Depending on where you move to, school may already be in session. Year round schools begin July 20th. (That's when my kids go back.

)

As others have said, you'll need proof of residency to enroll your children. (rental agreement, utility bill, etc. ). Your school will tell you exactly what paperwork they'll accept and what they won't accept (no Cable bills, for some reason). We needed two different forms of residency, dated with the last 30 days.

The school will request the records from your German schools. (hmm... not sure how the translation works, though.)

School times vary greatly from school to school. Just to give you an example, our elementary school is from 8:15a - 2:45p Mon - Thursday and 8:15a - 1:15p on Friday.

School meals are very affordable. School meals are only $1.50 at our (elementary) school. Not the greatest lunches, though.

School books are borrowed from the school. You don't need to pay for them unless they are lost or severely damaged.

moved · 06-26-2011, 10:40 AM

SDUSD schools start the day after Labor Day. The school WILL NOT request records from an overseas school. It's the responsibility of the parent(s) to bring it to the school for enrollment, along with all the other documentation that's needed.

MaiTaiMary · 06-26-2011, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moved

SDUSD schools start the day after Labor Day. The school WILL NOT request records from an overseas school. It's the responsibility of the parent(s) to bring it to the school for enrollment, along with all the other documentation that's needed.

I used to work for SDUSD and we requested the records once the children enrolled (even overseas; we had a lot of military families at our school). But that was a long time ago, so I guess things have changed.

If they enroll on a school other than SD Unified, they may very well start school July 20th. That's when all of Chula Vista (San Diego County) schools begin.

A lot of people haven't heard of year round schedules and assume that all schools start in September and end in June. Just wanted to bring that to their attention.

moved · 06-26-2011, 11:44 AM

I also used to work for SDUSD, and we didn't request records from overseas, only from US schools. I worked at one the all military kids schools, and it was never done. South Bay schools are on a different track. They changed all the South Bay districts to be on the track to make it easier on the parents that had kids in more than one schools. SDUSD is talking about eliminating the year round schools, too.

If she's going to be attending SDSU, I would assume she would want to live nearby, which would put her in the SDUSD.

MaiTaiMary · 06-26-2011, 12:15 PM

Well it sure sounds like I'm dating myself with my information. LOL

(It was quite a while ago that I worked for the school district.)

Yours sounds much more up to date.

ExpatYelli · 06-27-2011, 02:04 PM

Make sure you bring your Impfpass for vaccination records! Also, you may need to get a Hepatitis A vaccination. Germany only vaccinates against B.

ibman · 06-28-2011, 12:09 AM

Bring the children's vaccination records - they may need additional vaccinations to complete school enrollment. It would help to bring English translations of school transcripts, most schools will require that. You may be able to get help with that through the US Embassy. The big thing is the English translation of German course names, the number of hours per week the class met, and the grade translation to our letter system. The grade records should be official copies directly from the school.
If you ending up living in the SDSU area - you will probably be in the San Diego City Schools or possibly in the school systems in the La Mesa area. They both start around Sept 1. You can do your enrollment when you get here. Take your passport with visas with you when you go to the school. The hardest thing will be finding out what district and what schools the kids will be in - we don't have a federal school system in the USA.