The Coweta County Board of Education office at 237 Jackson Street in Newnan will stay open until 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays through the first two weeks of December, on December 4, 6, 11 and 13, to help parents file affidavits of residency before the end of the first semester.

By the requirement of a federal court, all parents must submit affidavits of residency for currently enrolled Coweta County students before the end of the current school semester on December 18. Parents can submit those affidavits and have them notarized at their child’s school or, for convenience, at the Jackson Street school board office.

Parents who require two-party residency affidavits (because they do not own or lease the home in which they live) must do so at the 237 Jackson Street office in order to meet the requirements at their child’s school. The Jackson Street office also accepts single-party affidavits on behalf of the schools.

Students who have not had affidavits completed by December 18 will be disenrolled from their school. The parents or guardians of any disenrolled student must meet the residency requirements to reenroll for the second semester, which begins on January 3, 2008.

To avoid that inconvenience, the school system is urging parents to provide the affidavits to each of their children’s schools before the beginning of the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The affidavits are being required by the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, to meet the terms of a federal court Consent Decree entered into on November 9, 2006.

Under the 2006 agreement, all parents, legal guardians, or other lawful custodians of students attending the Coweta County School System must sign under oath and deliver to the school his or her student is attending:

1. A notarized Affidavit of Residence, AND

2. Two items from the following list for address verification:

a. property tax records which indicate the location of the residence;
b. mortgage documents or a security deed which indicates the location of the residence;
c. an apartment or home lease or rent receipt indicating the current address;
d. a current utility bill for electricity or utility application for electricity showing the current address;
e. a voter precinct identification card or other voter documentation indicating the current address.

Every school provides Notary Public service free of charge to help parents fulfill the requirement.
 
Some parents, legal guardians, or other lawful custodians who do not reside in their own home due to unavoidable or emergency situations completed a two-party Affidavit of Residence and provided the school district with address verification at the Jackson Street Central Office earlier in the school year. No other documentation is needed at this time from these persons.

This is the second year that parents must submit the Affidavits of Residency. The Consent Decree reached last year in federal court mandates that schools collect the affidavits annually, as a part of a two-year review of the school system’s compliance with the terms of the 1973 federal desegregation order.

At the end of the two-year period, if the court finds that all areas of compliance have been met, then the school system may be awarded “unitary status,” which would remove Coweta County Schools from the review of the U.S. Justice Department. The school system must carefully document school system policies, school assignment, student transfers, hiring practices, educational opportunities and other matters (27 items in all) during this period.