Seattle Public Schools Enrollment Center

Not a good experience. Long wait times on phone then they disconnect you.
Not professional and no one would return my calls.
Very frustrating and none accommodating to families and own SPS Staff trying to help families. Just do not understand why this is happening ???

Since my kiddo will be starting kindergarten in fall 2012 at a Seattle Public School, I thought it would be interesting to write a review & keep it updated as my experience progresses in the coming months/​years.
So far my interactions have been limited to the district website, school websites (our reference school & an option school we are applying to), 2 school open houses/​tours & a visit to the SPS headquarters.
So far, so good. I stopped by earlier this week to drop off our enrollment forms. Since this is my first experience enrolling kiddo & we are applying to an option school other than our reference school & there is a lot of paperwork involved, I wanted to talk to someone to make sure I had all our «ducks in a row.»
I arrived after 3:30 p.m. & they close at 4 p.m. I easily found where I needed to go, the line moved reasonably quickly & the woman who reviewed all my documents was thorough & helpful. I was glad I went on the first day of open enrollment as I can see it getting more hectic in the coming 2 weeks. Rather than mail my documents in, it was comforting to have someone look it all over, make sure I had completed the forms correctly & included all the necessary additional documents (immunization records, address verification, my ID, kiddos birth certificate, etc…).
I’ll have more to report soon!

One extra star for effort.
These poor employees are clearly not ever informed how the system is working that day i.e. what direction the school board directed winds have blown.
I feel they’re the equivlent of bar doormen of the school system, their jobs suck and people are probably horrible to them but they’re so damn important to the process that you have to get through them to get to what you really want.

I have had to deal with the Seattle Public Schools Enrollment Center over the last two weeks to get two exchange students enrolled. I have submitted both of their information multiple times but somehow the five times I have called to check on their status the either cannot find any of the records or just some of them. It’s a nightmare.
School started three days ago but these kids are not signed up for classes because they cannot do so unless they are enrolled. Unfortunately, the enrollment center keeps losing track of their records or they tell me one thing one day and another thing the next day. Ridiculous. Centralized enrollment is not working! At least not in Seattle! It is embarrassing that this is the largest school district in the state and clearly the most unorganized district. I have enrolled many other exchange students in other districts in Western Washington so I know it can be done more efficiently.
… I am on hold again with the district as I am writing this … I am caller 10 … which means I’ll be on hold for another hour or so before I get to speak to someone who won’t be able to help me … very frustrating

This review only reflects the enrollment center, NOT the actual schools. That being said, the enrollment office is horrible. Don’t even think about calling them to help you with ANYTHING. Every time I have called, I am first put on hold for at least 15 minutes. Then I will finally get to talk to someone only to be shuffled to «someone who can help with that» (and this goes for everything you call about). Get put on hold for another 20 mins then hung up on or sent to voice mail, leave a message in hopes they will get back to you before your child graduates high school.
They will not help you with anything over the phone, instead they tell you to fax things to their always busy fax number, or mail it or bring it to the actual office which they moved from North Seattle to Downtown in recent years. If you actually get the honor to talk to a «specialist» as I got to recently (he called me a day after I left a message) they are no more helpful than the people who answer the phones. When I voiced my concerns about my child’s school she was assigned to I was basically told to «just be glad she’s enrolled in a school because there are some kids who are not assigned to a school yet». Well so sorry but ya know I went through the enrollment process back in March when I was supposed to and if there are parents who didn’t it’s not my problem and I don’t appreciate being talked over, patronized, and basically told to shut up and just «Wait and see» what happens in regards to my child’s school future. Um yea, not gonna happen.