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Is August the new September?

It’s hard for Paper Doll to believe that kids are already back to school. In my native New York State, school always started the Wednesday after Labor Day, but here in the South and in many other areas, including where kids have year-round school, classes are already back in session. So, with a wistful nod to a childhood when it was decidedly not 90 degrees while awaiting the school bus, I’ve been considering all that back-to-school paper.

No, not homework. Not KID paper, but grownup paper…the paper you parents are receiving to deal with the new school year. FORMS!

• An Apple A Day Keeps The Forms At Bay

Is your child starting a new school, either due to a household move or a “rise-up” to middle or high school? If so, get ready for the form deluge, and the most important thing you’ll need is a current copy of your children’s vaccination report. (Not sure if the shots are up to date? Type your child’s birth date here for a personalized plan.) In some school districts, this may get handled during a registration period, months prior to school starting; in others, your child might have a brief period at the start of the year in which to provide the paperwork.

For reference, you must prove that your kids have had the requisite immunizations for polio, measles, mumps, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, chicken pox, something sci-fi-ish called a Rotavirus, and more, as well as the dates on which these shots were given. (Yikes! That’s a lot of owies and tears and lollipops!)

So, do you have the paperwork?

If you’ve been following Paper Doll for some time, you may have all of these records in the MEDICAL section of your Family Files. If not, be sure to call your pediatrician today to get the records right away. Offer to come to the doctor’s office (to the well-child waiting room, so you don’t pick up any back-to-school germs) to pick up the completed forms in order to save the office manager the effort (and you, the time) of having the records mailed.

• Save Time. Make Multiple Copies of Forms!

Even with the immunization and medical history forms in hand, chances are good that you’ll be asked to fill out more medical history and release forms requiring you to dutifully fill in three hundred and twelve little check-boxes and explanations regarding chicken pox and broken bones. If you have two or more children, and each participates in one or more extracurricular activity (and yes, apparently the band director needs to know if little Jimmy’s knees are up to snuff), your hand could be cramped until Thanksgiving.

Depending on whether your children’s school is on the semester or the quarter system, you might be even expected to fill out the exact same forms in three, four or six months. Once you’ve filled everything in, maintain photocopies of the immunization and other doctor’s records in your children’s medical folders, and keep copies of the releases and other paperwork in the “school” category of each kid’s Personal section in the Family Files.

• Double-check Numbers for Emergency Contact Forms.

Everybody grouses about having to fill in emergency contact forms each year. After the 53rd form, we’re all reduced to whining “but nothing’s chaaaaaanged since last year!”, just as we’d like to say when we’re asked to fill out the same medical history and insurance forms each time we visit the doctor. Sadly, until we have universal computerized records implanted in our brains, readable via cornea scans, we’ve got to keep churning out the paperwork. So let’s at least make sure it’s worth the effort and do it right.

Although there’s a phone number portability law that says you get to keep your phone number if you change cell (or some land-line) providers, lots of people still switch cell numbers with surprising frequency. Your emergency contacts (Grandma? The back-up babysitter?) may have changed cell numbers since last winter, but since you probably just made the quick change in your own cell’s speed dial, the school was never updated. If you provide work numbers, your contacts may have changed cubicles/offices and gotten new extension numbers. Test all contact numbers!

• Reconsider If Your “Name” Is “Nick”

(OK, let’s all agree a bad “nickname” pun isn’t the worst thing a blog can offer.)

Parents, in order to preserve the safety of your kids, schools are necessarily (if annoyingly) more detail-oriented they were in our day and before. In the “olden” days, a mom could easily drop by school with a forgotten lunchbox and head straight to the child’s classroom. Now, more often than not, at least a few layers of extra security exist between the parking lot and your child’s cubby, and one of these layers involves proving you are who you say you are.

Mom, if the school is trying to reach the Mrs. Amelia Jones-Thorpe listed on all of your child’s paperwork and your voicemail says “Hi, this is Amy Jones, please leave a message”, the school may not be comfortable leaving word that your child has just projectile vomited tri-color Kool-Aid and needs to be taken home. And Dad, if you’re down on all the forms as Charles Phillip Hickenlooper III, but all your identification says “Trey Hickenlooper”, your second grader won’t be easily be released into your care for an early pickup.

When filling out forms for school, be sure to include the variations of your name in all official signatures, especially if you regularly go by a nickname. Sean P. Diddy Puff Daddy Combs, I’m talking to you!

• Create Your Own Forms

In addition to all the forms the school wants you to fill out, there are some you’ll want to create to keep on hand for yourself, and others you may want the school to sign and return to you. Consider:

Does your child have a serious allergy, such as to peanuts or bee stings?

If so, it’s not enough to fill in the generic medical forms. If your school doesn’t have allergy alert forms, create your own. The first page should explain the allergy situation and at minimum should list:

• your child’s full name
• grade
• homeroom teacher’s name
• the type of ALLERGY (in big, bold print)
• symptoms of exposure, if not obvious
• parental and emergency contacts
• primary physician’s name and contact information and
• treatment protocol

For example, if the school nurse has a stack of epinephrine pens stored for use in case of an emergency with your child, all of his teachers should be alerted in advance. The second page should include a form all of your child’s teachers should sign and return to you, acknowledging having read the notice.

If you are the kind of parent who doesn’t mind making a hubbub (and heck, what’s more worthy of a hubbub than a child’s safety?), you might even want to send a letter to the parents of other kids in your tinier tots’ classrooms so they are aware of the danger their lunch choices may pose.

Of course, none of this absolves parents or kids from diligence in avoiding an allergic situation, but forewarned is forearmed.

Does your child have a serious medical condition?

As with the issue of allergies, if your child has diabetes, epilepsy or any other condition which could require immediate action, be sure to notify the school nurse, administration and teaching staff and get written confirmation that they’ve read your notice. Yes, you filled out all those forms, but it doesn’t mean anyone read them. This extra step is your insurance policy.

Do you have parental rights issues?

If you and your ex- (or soon-to-be ex-) spouse have ongoing parental rights issues, or if you have an order of protection against a current or former spouse such that your child cannot/should not be picked up by, or come in contact with, the other parent, notify the school of this in writing and provide a copy of all necessary legal documentation.

Again, creating a note and confirmation-of-receipt form for your child(ren)’s teachers and the administration will create more paperwork, but it will also ensure a greater sense of personal responsibility on the part of the faculty.

Are you always pressed for time?

If time is always at a premium for your family, or if you’re King or Queen of Sleepyland in the mornings and your parental notes sound something like this, it might be helpful to create blank absentee excuse notes in advance with everything filled in except your child’s name (if you have more than one), the date of the absence and the reason for absenteeism.

Put contact information for both parents, even if only one of you signs it, so the school can check in to request further details. (Parents, don’t embarrass your kids by providing too many medical details–you never know who will get sticky little hands on an excuse note. If your school requires more details than “My child was absent on Tuesday, 9/30/08 due to illness”, get a cheat sheet with Latin/medical names for medical conditions.)

Similarly, create blank templates for excuses from gym class (again, if appropriate, choose medical terminology that isn’t too easy for other kids to suss out), early dismissals or tardiness. Create your own form, or print out combo versions already available on the web.

Keep a template in your computer, print out a half-dozen (or more, if your child had as many elementary school sick days as Paper Doll when she was a mere Paper Dolly) and/or keep a few extras in the glove compartment for the days when you’re really pressed for time.

Finally, find out if your school has any plans to go super-high-tech and allow parents to log in to password-protected accounts and fill in online absentee/dismissal/tardiness excuses without resorting to all the paper pile-up.

Today, we’ve reviewed some essentials for dealing with the paper that has to get to school. Next week, we’ll share the best ways to keep track of all the paper that comes home, from permission slips to class schedules, parent-teacher conference notices to vacation day calendars, school lunch menus to volunteer forms.

Believe it or not, there are alternatives to layers of paper on the fridge and the kitchen counter, and there are methods for ensuring that papers (and uneaten sandwiches) don’t outlive their usefulness at the bottom of a knapsack.