What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania
I was wondering if you could possibly give me some insight on an issue I'm having. Over Thanksgiving week we moved to a new district. My children are in grades 5 and 8, and I tried to enroll them in their new school during Thanksgiving break so that they could start classes after the holiday. I went to the administration office to give them proof of residency, and to have all of their school records faxed from the previous school, but was told that they will not enroll them without an original copy of their birth certificate. There lies my problem. A little over a year ago I lived in a house that had major water damage done due to a pipeline break. Along with many other items that were damaged was a box of "important papers" that I had stored down there, which included my childrens birth certificates. I explained the situation to them, and also explained that their previous school would have a copy which could be faxed over along with the records. But still they are refusing to entroll my children, stating they need an original copy. I explained to them that I do not have any days left to take off from work to spend the day at Vital Records downtown Pittsburgh, and even then will have to wait for the birth certificates to be mailed to me which takes a few weeks. Ordering them online takes up to a month, and in the meantime my children will be sitting at home missing school. I have a straight A student that has never gotten even a B on his report card and another child that gets decent grades but struggles to do it. I cannot have them falling behind in school or possibly failing the year because of missed school over this. I've done some research of my own, and the information that I'm getting is that no child should be denied access to school because the parent cannot supply an original copy of a birth certificate. I have printed out some information from the US Dept of Education and also fact sheet from the US Dept of Justice on the rights of all children to enroll in school. But I first wanted to check with a lawyer to find out if the school does in fact have a legal right to deny enrollment due to not being able to supply an ORIGINAL copy of a birth certificate. I would assume that since this is their rule, they feel they have some legal standing in telling me that they will not let my children attend school without the original birth certificate. I would appreciate any information anyone could suppply me with. Thank you.
I was wondering if you could possibly give me some insight on an issue I'm having. Over Thanksgiving week we moved to a new district. My children are in grades 5 and 8, and I tried to enroll them in their new school during Thanksgiving break so that they could start classes after the holiday. I went to the administration office to give them proof of residency, and to have all of their school records faxed from the previous school, but was told that they will not enroll them without an original copy of their birth certificate. There lies my problem. A little over a year ago I lived in a house that had major water damage done due to a pipeline break. Along with many other items that were damaged was a box of "important papers" that I had stored down there, which included my childrens birth certificates. I explained the situation to them, and also explained that their previous school would have a copy which could be faxed over along with the records. But still they are refusing to entroll my children, stating they need an original copy. I explained to them that I do not have any days left to take off from work to spend the day at Vital Records downtown Pittsburgh, and even then will have to wait for the birth certificates to be mailed to me which takes a few weeks. Ordering them online takes up to a month, and in the meantime my children will be sitting at home missing school. I have a straight A student that has never gotten even a B on his report card and another child that gets decent grades but struggles to do it. I cannot have them falling behind in school or possibly failing the year because of missed school over this. I've done some research of my own, and the information that I'm getting is that no child should be denied access to school because the parent cannot supply an original copy of a birth certificate. I have printed out some information from the US Dept of Education and also fact sheet from the US Dept of Justice on the rights of all children to enroll in school. But I first wanted to check with a lawyer to find out if the school does in fact have a legal right to deny enrollment due to not being able to supply an ORIGINAL copy of a birth certificate. I would assume that since this is their rule, they feel they have some legal standing in telling me that they will not let my children attend school without the original birth certificate. I would appreciate any information anyone could suppply me with. Thank you.
