"It's Cool to be in School"

Compulsory Attendance ages for the

Bessemer Board of Education

Every child residing in the area served by the Bessemer City School System between the ages of six (6) and seventeen (17) years shall be required to attend school for the entire length of each school term through the day preceding the seventeenth (17th) birthday.

Entrance Ages - Regular School Programs

A child who is five (5) years of age on or before September first shall be entitled, based on age to admission to kindergarten classes.

A child six (6) years of age on or before September first (September 1st) shall be entitled, based on age, to admission to first grade classes. A child who is under six (6) years of age on or before September second (September 2nd) is not admissible to first grade classes in the school system, except that, an underage child who transfers from the first grade of a school in another state may be admitted upon approval of the Superintendent.

Any student transferring into the School System from another system (public or private) in grade other than the first grade shall be accepted on a trial basis in the grade suggested by the transferring school.

A child enrolling in kindergarten or initially in the first grade in a school within the School System must present a Certified Birth Certificate or an appropriate Passport Document.

LEGAL REF.: The code of Alabama, 16-28-3, 16-28-4; Ogle v. Ogle, 156 So.2d 345 (1963). Report of Attorney General of Alabama Oct-Dec, 1963, Vol 113 Page 20.

Denial of Admission

It shall be the policy of the Bessemer Board of Education to deny admission to the following students:

A) Students over 16 years of age who have repeatedly been dismissed from school for violation of the rules of the school.

B) Students over 16 years of age who have not registered within ten (10) school days of the beginning of the new semester.

C) Students who have reached their 21st birthday.

Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the Superintendent for medical, legal, or any other reasonable and just claims.