School Registration

1. Find your school.

There are four main school opportunities in Pinellas County Schools:

1. Zoned Schools are based on your home address. Find your child's zoned school with the convenient School Zone Locator. See zone maps for Elementary, Middle and High schools at https://www.pcsb.org/zone.
2. District Application Programs (DAP) are the magnet, fundamental, and high school career programs. These are all “application only programs/schools.”
3. Special Assignment Requests (SAR) are to request a non-zoned school that is NOT a magnet, fundamental, or high school career program.
4. Special Attendance Permits (SAP) are for residents of other counties to apply for a
   Pinellas County School seat.

2. Reserve a seat.

To reserve a seat at a school, families must use the online Focus Student Reservation System. You can also visit any PCS school with a valid photo ID to get a new PCS Portal account. You can use any computer, including a school computer, to login and reserve a seat.

• New families will be able to create their parent accounts directly in Focus.

3. Enroll in school.

IMPORTANT: Complete an Enrollment/Residency Questionnaire Form or enrollment forms may be completed online at pcsb.org/backtoschoolforms.   

• This form self-identifies families/youth as meeting MVA (homeless) status and serves as the verification of residency for enrollment. 
• The MVA rights are listed on the back of the form.  
• Missing documentation (i.e. immunizations, birth records) is still required, but time is provided to obtain any missing documentation.

Request to speak with the school-based MVA Contact who:

• Conducts a confidential interview to discuss MVA rights and HEAT services.
• Coordinates school-based supports and resource assessment.
• Assists in securing enrollment-related documents.
• Connects parent/youth with outside agency support, as needed.
• Begins to identify and remove other barriers to regular attendance, full participation and academic achievement.
• Coordinates with the Homeless Liaison, as needed.

According to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, homeless students may continue attending their current school even if they are staying out of their attendance area. They may be provided transportation as well. All schools are subject to this, including magnet schools. If a student is still homeless the next school year, he or she can attend the school the parent either choose for them or is assigned to them, even if the student is staying outside of their attendance area. For students residing in shelters that are attending a school outside of their attendance area, please contact the HEAT office at 727-507-4766 to help with school placement.

The goal is to keep the number of transfers to a minimum for homeless students to help keep their education less disjointed.

If a student obtains permanent housing in the same school year as he/she is homeless, he/she may continue at the same school even if they are staying out of their attendance area. However, if a student is still in permanent housing during the next school year, then the parent must follow the district registration process.

Please remember the families at these shelters are trying to avoid violence, and the shelters encourage the families to file for injunctions against the perpetrator. When a family does have an injunction and gives a copy of it to the school, please have all relevant staff be aware of it (e.g. principal, child's teacher(s), data prep clerks, etc.). The injunction is for protection of the child and the family and needs to be adhered to.

In domestic violence situations, the appropriate HEAT members may make the request for records from the child's previous school if the parent is concerned about the abuser finding them. Once the HEAT member receives the records, this person will then transfer them to the assigned school. This is to help prevent the abuser from finding the family.