Online Enrollment

Entering the address information into ParentVUE can be a little sensitive. An address will start to auto-populate when a parent/guardian begins manual entry. The parent/guardian can either select the auto-populated address or they can manually type out their address. If the manually type their address into each field it is important that there are no additional spaces and that the city and other information is correctly entered. If staff need assistance with troubleshooting addresses errors please contact IMS team for assistance at 206-631-3333

• It's important to ask families some screening questions (see below) before setting up a parent up with a device to start online enrollment. Some of the screening questions will guide your next steps.  

 Parents without an email will need to get an email set up. Parents of student that live outside of the district need more information about the non-resident transfer process. Families that don't feel comfortable using a computer may need more hands on assistance to enter information into the computer. If a family needs language support you may need to contact the Family Center for interpretation support.  

• Do you have any students currently enrolled in HPS? Parents of students currently enrolled need support to activate their ParentVUE account. 

• Has the student you're enrolling ever been enrolled in HPS before? Parents of students previously enrolled need support to activate their ParentVUE account. 

• Do you have an email account?  

• Where do you reside?  

• Do you feel comfortable using a computer?  

• Do you need interpretation or translation support?  

•  First, follow up with the family by email and phone call to let them know there is an issue with their documentation. Work with the family to obtain the correct documentation.  

• Staff have the option to send a notification to the family that informs the family there is an issue with their enrollment documentation. Wait 3-4 weeks before sending this notification while you work with the family to see if you can obtain the correct documents.  

If the student shows that they have a Native Ed alert, the office staff should  contact the family and provide them with more information. The family should be given: (1)  506 form (hard copy or via email) with instructions. If sent via email please Native Education Program Manager (Sara Marie Ortiz) (2) Direct the family to visit the website for more information: highlineschools.org/native program (3) Instruct the family to send the form to the Native Education Program Manager via email or drop off at the school. If a 506 form were to be turned into the school, that form should be provided to Native Education Program Manager. For reference, please review the Native Education Program (NEP) Stakeholder Flow Chart.  

Each school was provided with five G1 Chromebooks. Please use your school's Chromebooks to assist families with online enrollment. If a family does not feel comfortable using a Chromebook or has limited computer literacy skills please sit with the enrolling family to provide hands on assistance with entering information.  

IMS help has developed a help guide for staff so that they know how to process pending online enrollments. Please review the help document on collab.

Families can scan or take a picture of the required documentation and upload it into ParentVUE. Families also can email documentation or contact the Enrollment Team to assist with documentation delivery. Families also have the option to check a box indicating that they will bring documentation to the school to complete their student's enrollment. During building closure we will allow families to mail documentation and send it to the school. Stay tuned for more information on possible documentation drop off site.  

• First, contact the family to find out what kind of help they need. Make sure to ask the following questions:
  • Does the family needs access to a computer?  
  • Does the family feel comfortable using the computer/device/technology? 
  • Does the family have access to the internet? 
  • Can the family access zoom for a support meeting? 
  • Does the family have anyone in their home to help support them through the online enrollment process? 
  • Does the family need language support/ interpretation? 
• Second, ask some additional screening questions: 
  • Do you have any students currently enrolled in Highline Public Schools?  
  • Do you have access or have you set up/activated a ParentVUE account? 
  • Was the student you are enrolling, previously enrolled in Highline Public Schools? 
    • If yes, do you remember what school they attended and what school year? 
• Third, set up a time to meet with the family remotely either over the phone or via zoom to walk them through the online enrollment steps.  
• Lastly, if you need support, contact the Enrollment Team at the Family Center.  
• Enrollment Support Flow Chart

If the student was previously enrolled, office staff will need to update the student’s records to make the student their own “parent/ guardian”.  The student will need to be able to provide an email address that is not one of the Student account email addresses. 

If the student is newly enrolling, the student can create a new account through ParentVUE just as a parent would. When they enroll themselves, they will choose “self” as the relationship in the parent screen.

Each family will be required to provide an email in order to enroll their student using ParentVUE. We recommend sending school-specific information through email. You may also consider sharing this information at welcome events, family meetings and other school events. 

• If you have received notification that a student has been approved for a transfer BEFORE you have processed and reviewed the student’s online enrollment application, you can move the student’s enrollment to the requested school via the deny feature. 

• If you have received notification that a student has been approved for a transfer AFTER you have processed and reviewed the student’s online enrollment application, please contact IMShelp@highlineschools.org. 

• Please review the IMS training video for more information and exact steps OR you can review the synergy help doc. The IMS training video can be viewed here or step by step written instructions are available in the synergy help doc on page 9 available here. 

Parents with currently enrolled students in our district trying to enroll a new student will need to use their current ParentVUE account information. Some parents have not yet activated their ParentVUE accounts yet. Please check synergy to see if a parent/ guardian has activated their ParentVUE account before providing the family next step directions. Activation codes are not necessary if a parent is setting up a new account and is not a current parent of a student currently enrolled in Highline.

Parents receive a notification through email when they submit an online application. Once a staff member starts reviewing a pending enrollment additional notification options can be sent to a parent to follow up on the status of a student's enrollment. To see notification template options click here. 

• If the enrollment has been accepted already by the “requested school”, then IMS needs to be contacted to remove the enrollment, so the neighborhood school can enroll the student. 

• If the enrollment has NOT been accepted by the “ requested school”  the student cannot be sent back to the neighborhood school, but the neighborhood school can RETRACT the denial originally made to move the enrollment.  Then the registration will get pulled back from the “requested school" and will be put back in the neighborhood school's registration queue. The "requested school" should contact the neighborhood school to ensure this occurs.  

All families who indicate an interest in preschool enrollment are encouraged to enroll online. Families that currently have students enrolled in our district, or families with students previously enrolled in our district, can enroll their preschool student online after activating their ParentVUE account. Families brand new to the district with a preschool student can create a new ParentVUE account.  

Preschool families may require additional paper application forms to enroll in preschool, however once a family enrolls online, preschool staff will follow up with families to ensure they receive the proper information.  

Please see the flow chart for more information on HPS internal preschool enrollment process.  

• Yes, non-resident online enrollment applications are submitted to the Enrollment Team. Families should complete transfer paperwork first. Please encourage families to fill out the HPS Non-Resident Application Form. For more information about transfer application requirements share the following website with families:  non-resident transfer page.  

• After Student Placement reviews a non-resident transfer application and approves the transfer, the Enrollment team will route the enrollment to the requested school for enrollment review.

The emergency card is no longer being printed. Why? How will I be able to respond in events of an emergency where technology is inaccessible to access emergency information for students?

One benefit of moving to online enrollment is the ability to consolidate forms, including emergency card information.  

Synergy allow users to quickly access student data and records during an emergency. To support this transition, all office managers districtwide will receive a cell phone from the IMS Team. Here is how the cell phone will help:

• The cell phones will run on our own network, rather than cell service. 
• The cell phones will connect to Synergy so users can access live data. 
• The cell phones will be configured to accept downloads such as data exports from Synergy. This includes an export of emergency information. 
• The cell phones will be managed and protected with passwords. 

Since emergency information will be stored in Synergy, staff from central office will also have access to it and will be able to provide support to schools during an emergency.

If you feel a printed copy of emergency information is absolutely necessary, you may print a paper copy of emergency information from Synergy. Keep in mind, data on paper can easily and quickly become outdated.

Synergy is the authoritative source of emergency contact information and emergencies demand that access not be limited to who is onsite and a printed version. 

• Online enrollment will be based on the student's home address and the student's grade. If a student lives within district boundaries the enrollment will be routed to the neighborhood. Staff will need verify proof of address documentation in order to process pending enrollments.  

• If a student resides outside of the district boundaries, the family will have the option to select which school they would like to attend. Non-resident enrollments will be routed to Student Placement for transfer review. School staff will receive non-resident enrollments once a non-resident transfer has been approved.  

Yes, electronic signature is sufficient for enrollment.

There are two options for processing duplicate enrollments: 

Option one is more family friendly than option two. Option one would require that you deny the online enrollment, and manually enter and update the existing record with the information that was submitted in online enrollment application. It's important to contact any stakeholder representatives (Kim Gansender for Sped, Health Services or School Nurse, Antonio Lewis for MV, Tessa Koutsky for Foster, Sara Ortiz or Kayla Guyett for Native Ed, Molly Ajeto for ELL, Lauren Thompson for 504 services) to share enrollment information. An alert will not be sent to any stakeholder groups for an "new" enrollment that is denied because it was a duplicate.  

Option two places more work on the parent, and requires that they redo their online enrollment. Option two requires the parent to activate their ParentVUE account with their activation key code, and go through the online enrollment process again.  

If you’ve become aware of a duplicate parent account, you can contact IMS help to let them know the two Adult IDs. IMS can delete and merge the Adult IDs together so there is no longer a duplicate parent account.  

It’s important to know that: 

•  If a duplicate enrollment is denied, the parent will need to activate the ParentVUE account with their activation key code.  

• If a duplicate enrollment is denied and the parent submitted enrollment documentation, that documentation will only be available for viewing in the enrollment history tab, unless it is saved and uploaded to the existing record in the documents section of synergy.  

Schools are required to accept and enroll students that are participating in the Address Confidentiality program. Once a school staff confirms the family has a confidential address, the family can do one of two things.  

(1) The family can use the school’s address for the physical address and can use the confidential PO Box for the mailing address (usually this PO BOX is in Olympia).  

(2) The family can use their confidential address in the physical and mailing address fields, but the enrollment will go to the Student Placement Manager’s HPS enrollment holding school. If the family choses option to, the school will need to contact the Student Placement Manager to transfer the enrollment application from the HPS enrollment holding school to the school's registration queue.   

Resource: https://www.sos.wa.gov/acp/for-schools.aspx 

• If the student shows up on your synergy task list you will first need to note why. What type of alert is flagged? Each student with an alert, has indicated an affirmative answer to a specific question tied to another department's work within the district. Various district representatives have access to view these alerts, and pull reports on new incoming online enrollments once processed by the school. This helps ensure McKinney Vento students are qualified, students with health concerns and immunizations meet District requirements for enrollment and attendance, Special education records are requested, English Language Learners have proper supports in place, Native Ed students are deemed eligible for program resources and support, etc  

• Students that have a Native Ed alert:  

  • Office staff should  contact the family and provide them with more information. The family should be given: (1)  506 form (hard copy or via email) with instructions. If sent via email please cc Native Education Program Manager (Sara Marie Ortiz) (2) Direct the family to visit the website for more information: highlineschools.org/native program (3) Instruct the family to send the form to the Native Education Program Manager via email or drop off at the school. If a 506 form were to be turned into the school, that form should be provided to Native Education Program Manager. For reference, please review the Native Education Program (NEP) Stakeholder Flow Chart. The Native Ed program staff will remove the student's name from the synergy task list. 

   

• Students that show up with an MV alert:   

  • Antonio Lewis, McKinney Vento Liaison, will  complete the MV eligibility form for the family that has affirmatively indicated the student has unstable housing on the online enrollment application. The family is then contacted to coordinate transportation and school based supports. The office staff does not need to do any follow up. Once these things have been complete, Antonio will remove the students name from the synergy task list.   

• Student that show up with a Foster care alert:   

  • Tessa Koutsky, Foster Care Coordinator, is notified when a family indicates on the online enrollment that their student is in Foster Care. The office staff does not need to do any follow up unless they receive a “School Notification From.”  If and when a school notification form is received please contact Tessa via email.  The family and/or case worker will be contacted to coordinate transportation and any school based supports. Tessa will remove the student's name from the synergy task list.   

No. The electronic copy within synergy is maintained for staff to access after the enrollment has been reviewed, processed, and accepted. It can be printed if there is a records request or a school based need but it not required.  

The Enrollment Services team is available to answer parent-related questions about the enrollment process. The IMS Help Desk is available to answer staff questions about Synergy and ParentVUE. 

Enrollment Services
206-631-3065

Micaela White
micaela.white@highlineschools.org
206-631-3148

IMS Help Desk
IMS.Help@highlineschools.org 
206-631-3333

Micaela White, Enrollment Services Manager, is the main point of contact for the online enrollment rollout. She can be contacted with questions at 206-631-3148.  

The IMS team is offering ongoing technical training and support. If you need assistance please contact IMS Help Desk, IMS.Help@highlineschools.org, 206-631-3333.