How to Enroll in Sacred Grove Academy

Just need to know prices? Go straight to "Fees"

Requirements to Enroll:

• The student must live in Alabama with a parent or legal guardian (see FAQ).
• The teacher (parent/guardian) must agree to keep attendance records and must agree to submit these to us at the end of the school year (REQUIRED by Alabama State law, Code 16-28-8). (See Attendance Form Policies.)
• If anyone in the family was previously enrolled, all past attendance forms for any and all previously enrolled students must have been submitted, and there should be no outstanding payments.
• **NOTE: NO REFUNDS!!! If you pay and do not send the required enrollment and registration forms, or send only one form, or send forms with improper or no signatures, or if you decide not to enroll after all, your money will not be refunded. We will contact you via email, phone, Facebook, and snail mail to correct the forms, but if we get no response from you, a refund will not be sent.

How to Enroll:

• Read our Policies.
• See Fees so you know much to pay.
• Fill out both the enrollment and registration forms, COMPLETELY (including signing Section I and III of CSEF); using one set per child.
• Send us the completed forms and your payment (NOTE: We do NOT have a Fax):
  
  1. Email digital forms: Save the fillable PDF forms to your computer, type to fill out, sign digitally, save, and email to us at sacredgroveacademy at gmail dot com. Send fees via PayPal.
  2. Email scanned forms: Print the forms, fill out & sign, SCAN (Please do NOT send photos taken with cell phone) and email them to us at sacredgroveacademy at gmail dot com. Send fees via PayPal.
  3. Snail-mail: Print the forms, fill out & sign, and mail with your check or money order (Please make out to "Sacred Grove Church") to Sacred Grove.

Things to Know:

• All wishing to enroll should read over the Alabama Laws for Church School Enrollment: Chapter 28 (click on Section 16-28-1, 16-28-3, and 16-28-7), and Chapter 45, Section 16-46-3 (f-2).
• You are considered officially enrolled when we receive the two forms and the complete fees. If you send the forms without the fees, or the fees without the forms, you are NOT considered officially enrolled, and can face truancy charges if your child is not enrolled in another school.
• You may enroll at any time during the year, but keep in mind that all enrollments end July 1, even if you initially enrolled on May 1.
• IMPORTANT: If you are enrolling after your regular school year has begun, do NOT withdraw your child from his/her current school until you receive confirmation from us that you are enrolled with Sacred Grove! It generally takes one-two weeks for us to receive your paperwork and do all the processing and for the school board to then receive the form in the mail, but we cannot control the speed of the US Mail. Also, during the school year we may only check the PO box once a week (NOTE: Do NOT send certified mail! This has to be picked up during working hours, which is not always possible, and will cause your paperwork to be greatly delayed!). We are not responsible for any truancy charges you may be faced with if you withdraw your child from his/her current school too soon. If you have an emergency situation, please contact us first, so that we will be aware that you are sending an enrollment.
• Finally, if you provide us with your email address, either on the enrollment form, by emailing us, or by paying via PayPal, PLEASE CHECK THAT EMAIL regularly! If there is any issue with your enrollment, we will contact you first through that email. And in the event of any issue (paperwork not properly signed, incorrect forms sent, wrong payment amount sent, etc.), you will NOT be officially enrolled until that issue is resolved, and you could be liable for truancy charges if you have already withdrawn your child from school.

DO NOT SEND: Transcripts or other papers from former schools, course work, immunization records, or copies of Social Security cards or birth certificates. These are not needed or wanted, and will be shredded immediately if received in the mail.

After enrollment, you will be mailed a copy of the signed Church School Enrollment Form (CSEF). DO NOT LOSE THIS! You may need this for driver's licenses, proof of enrollment, and more. If you lose it and need a replacement, the fee is $10.
Pay for replacement CSEF

Got it? Go straight to "Fees"

When Can I Enroll?

Your Public School District:

On the Enrollment and Registration Forms, in addition to student and family info, we ask that parents provide the name of the County or City public school system the child would be enrolled in if attending public school, as we have to send the enrollment form to that particular board of education. If in the city limits, it would probably be the local City Superintendent of Schools; if outside of city limits, the Board of Education for the county school system. Note: DON'T LIST THE SPECIFIC SCHOOL your child would go to! We need the COUNTY or CITY school system or superintendent. For instance, in the Auburn/Opelika area, there are three school systems that a child could attend, depending on where the family lives. In Auburn city limits, we have the Auburn City School system. In the Opelika city limits, we have the Opelika City School system. And outside of both of those city limits, but within the bounds of Lee County, we have the Lee County School system. Each of these has a different superintendent with a different mailing address. Not all cities have their own school system - many county school systems serve ALL students in that county, regardless of what city limits they live in.

If you are NOT sure of which school system your child would normally be enrolled in, then on the Registration Form please provide the name of the particular school your child would normally attend, with a note beside it saying "individual school" or something to that effect, so I will know. If you don't know what school district (i.e., city or county) your family lives in (say, you just moved there, and have not enrolled in school at all), call a realtor's office, or call any nearby Board of Education, and give them your address. They will be able to look this up for you. (The Birmingham area is particularly confusing - there are multiple school districts within Jefferson County.) Unfortunately, there seems to be no web page that gives this info by address.

Attendance Forms: PLEASE SEE SECTION ON ATTENDANCE FORMS FOR MORE DETAILS

Optional Records Transfer Form: -- You may fill out a Records Transfer Request form (NOTE - DO *NOT* MAIL THIS FORM TO SACRED GROVE!!) and mail it to the school from which your child is withdrawing. They will then send the records to you. This is an OPTIONAL step, and you can write your own letter, if you don't want to use ours with the Pagan Cover School in the header. Please note that if the former school mails us these records instead of mailing them to you, we will automatically forward the records on to you when we receive them, unless you tell us otherwise! Please make a note of your wishes on your Registration Form. Please note: If you withdraw or are dropped from Sacred Grove and enroll in another school, which then requests your child's records from us, we cannot release any information until any fees or forms which are in arrears are received.

When Can I Enroll?

When can I enroll? -- You may enroll at any time during the year. Most families enroll in the summer for the upcoming school year. Just to make things easier, we base our school year around the standard academic year; so our enrollment year begins July 1, and ends the following July 1. However, you can enroll at any point in the school year. Please note that all enrollments end on July 1.

**NOTE: ALL ENROLLMENTS END ON JULY 1, REGARDLESS OF WHEN SENT: IF YOU ENROLL ON MAY 1, YOUR ENROLLMENT WILL END ONE MONTH LATER (unless you tell us that your enrollment is for the upcoming year).**

What if I enroll later in the year? -- If you enroll after August 1, up to June 30, your tuition fee will still be the full price; there is no discount for partial-year enrollments. Your tuition fee will cover you till the following JULY 1, at which time you will need to renew and pay the following year's tuition fee . The registration fee of $25 per child must also be paid at the time of your initial enrollment. (You can use PayPal to pay for this, but you still need to mail in the hard copy of the forms, or scan and email.)
NOTE: ALL ENROLLMENTS END ON JULY 1!! If you send an enrollment in June, please specify if you are enrolling in the upcoming school year, which begins July 1, or the current one, which ends June 30.