Enrollment FAQs

For incoming Lakota students, we are proud to offer an online registration process as an easy and convenient option. New families are welcome to register online any time of the year to begin during the current school year. The timing for tuition-based preschool registration varies based on projected capacity and kindergarten registration for the following school year opens in early February; both will be announced on the Welcome Center homepage.

While completing the online registration process, you will be asked to upload required documents and will be prompted to schedule an appointment review with the Welcome Center to complete the process.

For the current school year, you can enroll in grades K-12 or preschool's special education services at any time. Registration for Lakota's tuition-based preschool program is limited to the advertised application period each spring. 

For the upcoming school year, we will post special dates on our website about pre-registration. Timing for preschool pre-registration varies based on projected capacity, while pre-registration for new K-12 students, including incoming kindergartners, begins in early February. 

Please click here to view a complete listing of documentation required at the time of enrollment.

The student’s parent/guardian needs to be the one to enroll or change an address. This person must be identified on the birth certificate or through court-stamped documents and will need to provide a photo ID. 

Incoming preschoolers can pre-register for the following school year during the designated enrollment period, which varies based on projected capacity. Visit the preschool registration page for complete details or contact the preschool office at (513) 870-5378, option 6.

Incoming kindergartners can pre-register any time leading up to the following school year, beginning in early February when early registration begins. Your child must be 5 years old on or before August 1 of that year. After completing the online registration process, you will be prompted to make an appointment review with the Welcome Center to complete the process. Visit the kindergarten registration page for complete details.

If enrolling a first grade student who did not attend a public or chartered non-public school for kindergarten, the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce requires that the parents/guardians provide confirmation from their kindergarten provider that the teacher met the certification requirements outlined by the Ohio Department of Education. 

The required documentation is the kindergarten teacher’s state teaching certificate or license. Families are responsible for obtaining the required documentation. Enrollment into first grade may be delayed until confirmation is received.

Lakota's Summer School program provides an opportunity for students in grades 7-12 to earn original and recovery credit. Registration is completed through PaySchools Central.  Specific information will be available on the Welcome Center homepage in late January when the registration period opens. Visit the Summer Learning webpage for more information, including dates, location, course offerings, costs and more.

Lakota Central offers flexible learning options and paths to meet the vast learning needs of high school students. Students interested in enrolling at Lakota Central must speak to their main campus guidance counselor or school administrator.

If you are not a current Lakota student, you must enroll first through the Lakota Welcome Center via online registration, and also begin the process with either a Lakota East or Lakota West guidance counselor. Please specify your interest in Lakota Central when enrolling.

Yes. To complete the enrollment process, your child is required to provide the most recent record of immunization at the time of registration. We realize that summer birthdays may require more vaccinations, but the updated record can be brought to school once school begins. Ohio Revised Code and Lakota board policy state that any child who has not met enrollment requirements must be excluded from school.

Visit Lakota's immunizations webpage to learn more about state requirements.

Per Board Policy and Administrative Guideline 5113, with the exception of Lakota employees' children and students with an open enrollment status in grades 7-12 as of the 2023-2024 school year, Lakota does not offer open enrollment to students who do not reside within Lakota's boundaries. This is due to increasing enrollment throughout Lakota, especially in grades K-6, and the District's commitment to ensuring our residents' students are able to attend their assigned school. 

Furthermore, non-employee students in grades K-12 who move out of the district during the school year cannot remain enrolled in Lakota and must enroll in their new district of residence.

Information about the application process for eligible open enrollment students will be posted on the open enrollment section of the website each May.

No, returning students do NOT need to complete the online registration process. If your child is already enrolled, watch for communication from your child's school and complete other back-to-school requirements detailed on Lakota's Back-to-School Hub.

For address changes both inside and outside of Lakota's boundaries, per Board Policy & Administrative Guidelines 5113, all resident and open enrolled students must submit their new proof of residency within 45 days of the address change.

Depending on your current status and new address, view step-by-step instructions for notifying Lakota's Welcome Center about your address change.

To change a child’s custodial guardian, please email enroll@lakotaonline.com to provide any of the documents below. All documents must be stamped and dated by the court; notarized statements are NOT acceptable documents for custody.

• Final Divorce decree, which may include a Shared Parenting Plan naming a specific parent as residential parent for school placement
• Grandparent Power of Attorney
• Temporary Custody Order naming specific guardian
• Military Power of Attorney

Please direct any questions to the Lakota Welcome Center at (513) 682-4120 during regular business hours.

The process to withdraw a student can be completed electronically following the steps: 

1. Fill out the District Withdrawal English Form or District Withdrawal Spanish Form.
   Be sure to complete the top two sections of the form.
    
2. Email the completed form and your photo ID (must be the student's legal parent or guardian) to enroll@lakotaonline.com.
    
3. Lakota property, including Chromebooks and Chromebook accessories, can be returned at the Central Office, located at 5572 Princeton Road.

You will receive email confirmation once all documents are verified. 

Lakota students have the option to request a school other than the one within their attendance zone. Requests are not guaranteed, as every application is reviewed against current and projected enrollment counts. 

The Alternate School of Choice form must be completed and submitted to the building principal of the school that you are requesting to attend. 

Click here to access our interactive attendance zone map. Enter your address to view all schools in your assigned attendance zone. 

Lakota provides transportation to all students in grades K-2. Eligible students in grades 3-6 who live more than one mile from their school will receive transportation. Eligible students in grades 7-9 will receive busing if they live more than two miles from their school. Lakota does not provide busing to students in grades 10-12. When viewing your address using our interactive attendance zone map, exclusion zones will be indicated.

View a complete listing of each school’s hours.

Lakota is proud to offer all of our early learners an all-day kindergarten environment. Lakota continues to offer its half-day option for parents and students who prefer it. Requests for half-day will be accommodated through AM or PM kindergarten, as determined by total enrollment. Similarly, the school(s) hosting offering half-day kindergarten will be finalized each year once registration is complete and based on interest level. Half-day kindergarten will focus on academics to ensure these students are prepared for first grade, and these students will not participate in daily specials.

School fees are established in the spring for the following school year. Visit the student fees page for more information.

Home Access Center (HAC), accessible via OneLogin, is a communication tool to help keep students and parents up-to-date and in contact with their teachers throughout the year. Use HAC to find daily assignments and scores, report cards, attendance, and more. Families new to the district will receive their usernames and passwords by mail from their schools. 

Home Access Center is also available in a mobile app, allowing you to view all information from any mobile device. Visit the HAC landing page to learn more about how to take full advantage of this tool. 

Lakota is proud to offer a powerful mass notification system for delivering important school and district news and announcements via email, phone, and text message. 

Once your HAC account is established, parents and guardians are invited to log into School Messenger to select your preferences for receiving general, emergency and weather-related alerts. For your username, use the primary email address associated with your personal Home Access Center account. For convenience, email addresses and phone numbers provided during registration will be automatically loaded from your HAC account.  Click here for more information on how you can sign-up, view or change your communication preferences.