VIDALIA — With the first day of school in Concordia Parish less than two weeks away, parents eager to get their students registered for the upcoming school year can begin doing so Monday.

After several weeks of taking their own summer vacations, teachers, counselors and secretaries are back at Concordia Parish district schools preparing for the first day of school on Aug. 10.

Superintendent Paul Nelson said parents are welcome to register their children for classes at their earliest convenience before school starts.

“The issue we have in the summer is people show up to the schools thinking there are people working, but there is nobody there,” Nelson said. “Everyone is back in the schools, and parents can begin coming in to register starting this week.”

Parents who have students entering grades 3, 6 or 9 need to make sure they bring an electric bill, mortgage bill, rental contract or some document that verifies their residency inside Concordia Parish.

“Each time a student moves to the next school up, they have to prove through those documents that they still reside in the parish,” Nelson said. “That’s common in all the districts.”

Any parents of the 120 kindergarten to fifth-grade students attending the district’s magnet program, or Concordia Parish Academy of Math, Science and Technology, will also have to verify their residency in the parish.

“Anybody that attends the magnet program will have to prove their residency every year they register,” Nelson said.

“We have to do that with the magnet program because we had people apply from outside the parish.”

The magnet program doesn’t rely on school district lines, but rather can draw students from the entire parish.

But for those students not in the magnet program or in grades 3, 6 or 9, no other extensive paperwork is necessary for registration.

Nelson said most grades have a $5 activity fee needed for registration, but that other fees are based on the grade or class.

“If a high school student is taking some kind of elective class, those could have required fees for registration,” Nelson said.

A school supply list will also be provided to parents after they register their students, Nelson said.

“The schools already have those lists ready, but we’ll start pushing them out to the stores soon, so they can have everything ready,” Nelson said.

The first day of school is Friday, Aug. 10, which is an early dismissal day with students being released at 12:30 p.m.