So I am thinking about using my Grandmother's address to send my kid to DCPS...

[Anonymous]

Anyone else done this before?

[Anonymous]

You are going to get skewered...

Actually, this is probably less of an issue than in Manhattan. This is SOOOOO common in NYC, and SOOOOO frustrating to parents who bought into neighborhoods only to see their schools become overcrowded by interlopers.

[Anonymous]

What are you going to do when your kids tell other kids where they live? Have them lie? Do you really think that the school administrators won't find out eventually and kick your kids out?

Foolish if you ask me...

[Anonymous]

I've been in a DCPS school where this was done, actually the grandparent of the child, not the greatgrandparent. The business manager knew. Nothing was done to the family.

It sets a very bad ethical tone for your children. You might save some money, or get a better education. Certainly an inferior moral education from the parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else done this before?

Sure, people commit perjury all the time. You can join the company of Kwame Kilpatrick, Marion Jones, Scooter Libby, Lil' Kim, and Bernie Madoff!

[Anonymous]

If you are doing it to get into a heavily oversubscribed school in NW by fraud, I would be careful. Rhee has already tightened up a bit, if you move out of bounds you can no longer definitely stay, this was to discourage fraudulent temporary addresses for schools like Oyster. If you go ahead I hope you don't have the kind of kid who likes to have playdates, it's common knowledge who is in and out of boundary and other parents don't like fraud, esp if the classes are over 23 due to REAL in bounds kids or legitimate OOB kids. Especially true if you are talking pre-K where not all in bounds kids without sibs can be accomodated.

[Anonymous]

Don't feed the troll.

[Anonymous]

I have seen a couple people do this and it has been really bad for the kids. Playdates become impossible because the parents are covering the lie. And the children become isolated. In my child's class, the two children that have the most trouble fitting in -- and probably because of that therefore have become major behavior problems -- are both at the school due to misrepresentations.

And that occurred even before other parents figured it out and became resentful, which causes its own problems, as described by the PP.

[Anonymous]

I think you'd be surprised how many multi-generational families live together in DC.

There's an elderly couple who lives down the street from me. One of her adult daughters lives there, along with a disabled grandchild. Two other grandchildren live with their mother who lives east of the river. Sometimes the grandchildren stay over with their grandparents because they go to our neighborhood school instead of the one near their mother.

I think the commute is difficult on them from time to time but I don't think there are any regrets. Due to the quality of the education and the school and the commitment of one of her teachers, the older child is able to attend the Johns Hopkins CTY program. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have been an option at the school near their mother!

[Anonymous]

Why on earth would you want to have your kid in sucky schools?

[Anonymous]

You may find this harder than you think unless your grandmother is a legal guardian of your child We just got the forms and they are quite explicit in terms of requirements. Your grandmother would also have to personally go to the school to enroll the child and bring proof of residency and guardianship. Filling out a form and mailing it in has not been the standard for some time- the resident has to show up in person at the school.

[Anonymous]

My son had a very sweet boy in his class whose mother had done this. When he was discovered, he was kicked out mid-year. It was sad for all involved. He's at a school in MD now, but the kids still talk about him. They all knew what happened. This was in 1st grade, BTW, and also not even a high-performing DCPS, just a nice quiet school where there are any particularly bad problems. Can't imagine you would get away with it for long under Rhee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may find this harder than you think unless your grandmother is a legal guardian of your child We just got the forms and they are quite explicit in terms of requirements. Your grandmother would also have to personally go to the school to enroll the child and bring proof of residency and guardianship. Filling out a form and mailing it in has not been the standard for some time- the resident has to show up in person at the school.

Want to second this post - Rhee is surely tightening up the requirements. You also have to reestablish residency each year, no more "once you are in, you are in".

[Anonymous]

On the other hand, Rhee has been known to not pursue certain principals because the more students the better the enrollment numbers look....at Ross ES a couple of years back (Rhee's first year) there were at least a handful of Maryland & Virginia residents that really should have paid tuition, which is about $9,000-plus for out-of-state enrollment. The principal tried to take down license plates at drop off only to be branded racist by AA parents, who claimed she was targeting OOB (this rumor began by the out-of-state parents to turn other AA parents off to the principal) and the whole thing was ugly. The administration not only hung the principal out to dry, they looked the other way regarding the real issue of residency. At the best NW DCPS schools the parents will out you for the many reasons listed above.

[Anonymous]

What kind of rat bastard tattles on a kid (or their parents) in a situation like this? Are people who can afford to pay 800K and up to live in-boundary really so petty?