I Am Just Full of Questions Tonight.

You either contact the school or board, either one will tell you... or you can look up a city district map. Like here I can google it and see the school district map color coded for what school the kids will go to.

Caveat: You may be in a 'normal' district... but ours isn't. In our district you have to 'bid' on schools, and they are assigned based on a lottery system. Theoretically you're supposed to get your closest school (some years, some years it's pure lottery), and some years siblings are guaranteed placement in the same school, and some years they're not.

In our (new to us then) district you have to register by February the year prior (Phew, didn't know that, good thing I decided to get on things "early", I had 72 hours before the cutoff date for registration). We didn't find out until 2 weeks prior to the first day of school what "our" school was.

We had 2 schools we would have been interested in attending. The 1st (a montessori program) we were several hundred down on the waiting list for a class of less than 30. Um. Not going to happen. (You only get put on the waiting list of your top pick school). The school we were assigned was 45 minutes (in no traffic, 1.5-2 hours in bad traffic, like, you know, morning rush hour, and evening rush hour, which is when school start and end times were) south of us in a REALLY bad neighborhood. Excuse me? Well, the district (when I called) said that the 5 elementary schools nearest me (all within a 10 minute walk, and one the 'assigned' school for our address) are the 5 magnet schools in the district. It was a pure lottery system that year, so we weren't guaranteed one of them.

So for K, we paid the $2200 to be in a different district and do full day K (because "half day" K was only 1.5 hours long). And the next year, we started homeschooling.

Many districts in the country are "easy" or "normal". But a LOT of them are also just screwed up (as far as admissions go). Ours is pretty screwed up. Their rules change every year (I have a neighbor with 3 girls in 1st, 3rd, & 4th in 3 different elementary schools all with an 830 start time. Ummmm.... and she's not the only one, I know DOZENS of families with 2 or more kids in 2 or more elementary schools! Many with the same start times), and another neighbor whose 8yo has to take 2 public busses (because they got rid of school busses, and now issue city bus passes) halfway across the district because they didn't win the 'local school' lottery (it's an actual lottery).

So before you take anything as a given, contact the district itself for their registration policies!!!

((<grin> We DON'T have to deal with it. It wasn't even on my radar as a reason "why" we started homeschooling, but it's one of those things -ongoing list of several hundred at this point- that I get to sigh in relief at not having to put up with.))

Your school district will know based on your address.

haha, that's funny, because I called 4 different school districts before finding the right district! We live on the border of 3 villages, none of which are the school district that we belong to. There are 2 schools within 1/2 a mile of my home, but neither are in my district...instead our district's school is 4 miles away...WHAT?

You contact the school district and they will tell you your school by address. In addition many school districts have websites where you can type in your address and they tell you what school you belong to! We went thru the early learners program (special needs) in our district so we are going to a school based on services offered and space available vs. our "home school." My son has never actually gone to his "home school" for services of any kind and this year starts official special ed full time pre-k! We are excited.

It's a reasonable question to ask!! I have twin, almost 4, year old boys and they are in preschool at our church. I have often thought about where they would go to school...public, private...I don't even know what public school (like you) they would go to for K!! I totally understand what you are going thru!
Good Luck!
By the way, we are starting to look at private schools as well...sheesh!!!

Just call your school district's office and ask. You could call any of the three elementary school's and the secretary would be able to tell you right off, or at least direct you to whom to call.

Make sure you contact the school district when it gets closer to time, as well. School boundary lines change often here. Budget issues, new schools opening, those kinds of things change to zoning of who goes where. You might not have that problem where you live, though.

Our district only has one elementary school, so it was a no brainer for us. I used to work in a community that has three elementary schools, one junior high and one high school. It is usually based on geography, but due to population changes (lots of kids born in one year and not very many the next year) it is possible that things could change between now and when your little one begins.

My sister can choose which junior high to send her kids to (she has three options). Where my SIL lives one of the schools is K and 1, another is 2 & 3, another is a 4 & 5, junior high is 6,7,8 and high school is 9-12.

I agree, call the district and ask them. Then just be aware of community happenings. You'll hear something if they have to make changes.