After 12 days into the new school year, the number of students attending schools in the Griffin-Spalding County School System was 10,651 — only one student more than for Day 12 of the last school year.

The school system collects data from each school at the beginning of each school year to make sure it complies with state and federal guidelines. And after the first two weeks of school — a standard measuring point — student enrollment has been close to earlier projections, requiring only minimal teacher transfers.

According to an information memorandum presented to the Griffin-Spalding County Board of Education by Director of Human Resources Stephanie Dobbins, two teachers and one paraprofessional are being transferred as a result of actual enrollment.

The memorandum also showed that the highest populated school within the school system after 10 school days was Griffin High with 1,330 students, followed by Spalding High with 1,237 students. Rehoboth Road Middle comes in third with 730 students.

The school with the smallest student population — aside from A.Z. Kelsey Academy’s 88 students — is Moore Elementary at 375. Beaverbrook Elementary had the second smallest student count at 427, with Crescent Elementary being third at 438.

As for one of the next steps in the process, the school system will continue to monitor student counts for compliance with state board rules.

In a related matter, the school system announced in a press release that it has made registering new students easier for parents by opening a central registration in the new Parent Services Center at 234 E. Taylor St. — the location of the former Taylor Street Middle School.

“In the past, parents needing to register their children for school traveled to the appropriate school. If the parent had an elementary, middle and a high school student, the parent was required to complete the same paperwork three times,” said Director of Administrative Technology Josh Griffis.

Now parents can bring the required documents to central registration and complete the paperwork once per family. The school system expects this change to translate into more consistent and accurate management of student and family data in the student information system.

“Central registration will handle the registration of students as well as processing address changes, emergency contact changes, Infinite Campus parent portal issues, et cetera,” said Griffis. “Many school districts across Georgia have already implemented central registration, including some of our neighbors, such as Butts County, Coweta County and Fayette County.”

In the coming weeks, additional departments will be relocating in phases to the same building at 234 E. Taylor St. to truly make the building a service center for parents. These include ESOL services, pre-K, student services, the school nurse program, school psychologists, school social workers and the Title I parent resource center.