New students in Prince George County and Hopewell must register before Tuesday or risk not being able to attend the first day of school.

"As you can imagine, the first day of school is hectic trying to get youngsters in the classroom," said Prince George Superintendent R. Francis Moore. "We do not accept students if they have not gotten into our system before school starts."

His system receives a number of new students because of the Fort Lee transfers, although late registration is not a major issue, he said.

Hopewell will not register new kindergarten students on Tuesday, said Linda E. Hyslop, assistant superintendent for instruction.

Late registration of students has always been an issue, she said. Some parents forget that they need to bring documentation and proof of vaccination, she said.

"You just kind of think 'oh I can just walk in and register my child'," she said. "Then they find out that they need to have so many pieces of information that we require before we can register a child."

Both school divisions will register students on the second day of school.

-- Juan Antonio Lizama