Using relative's address to get child into different school district in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the repercussions if MCPS finds out you've used a relative's address to get your child enrolled in a different MCPS school district? Does anyone have experience with this? And if so, what is the process that MCPS uses to discover and crack down on such situations?

MCPS is overcrowded and poorly managed. If this is a close relative who has your back and will not snitch, you can pull it off. Granted, you have to produce documentation to prove you live there. I strongly considered doing that, but decided to forego MCPS altogether. If your local school is such sh1t that you wouldn't send your child there, why send them to any of the schools in MCPS?

OP, do NOT follow this advice. MCPS has identified families not living in the proper school zone and has removed those students from their schools mid year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the repercussions if MCPS finds out you've used a relative's address to get your child enrolled in a different MCPS school district? Does anyone have experience with this? And if so, what is the process that MCPS uses to discover and crack down on such situations?

MCPS is overcrowded and poorly managed. If this is a close relative who has your back and will not snitch, you can pull it off. Granted, you have to produce documentation to prove you live there. I strongly considered doing that, but decided to forego MCPS altogether. If your local school is such sh1t that you wouldn't send your child there, why send them to any of the schools in MCPS?

OP, do NOT follow this advice. MCPS has identified families not living in the proper school zone and has removed those students from their schools mid year.

DP

Do you actually know of someone where this happened? Honestly?

Because we know of several families who have done this for years without ever getting caught. It’s very difficult to prove that a kid lives at a certain address. Especially when they sue a grandparent or other family member’s address.

[Anonymous]

I know someone who did this and bragged about it everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who does it. She has 2 kids assigned to an Elem in east county but drives them to a school in Rockville every day. I think it’s wrong but she’s been getting away with it for 5 years now.

Seems like a lot of effort for...Rockville

LOL! I live in Rockville and I agree. I don’t even think our school is that great. But there are SO many families that do this. My kid played soccer with two kids who do this.

I'm slightly late for the party but I couldn't help but to chime in when I saw this comment. When my child was in elementary, she had a friend whose parents were cheating the system. They lived in Rockville in this big-ass house and were driving their daughter daily to another school - also in Rockville! - for reasons I can't fathom till this very day. Granted, our ES was a Blue Ribbon school, and that, but it's not that their original home ES was in the Bronx; the elementary school curriculum is the same everywhere, and their girl was just an average student.

They used the address of the house that was within walking distance from the school.. Entirely bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the repercussions if MCPS finds out you've used a relative's address to get your child enrolled in a different MCPS school district? Does anyone have experience with this? And if so, what is the process that MCPS uses to discover and crack down on such situations?

MCPS is overcrowded and poorly managed. If this is a close relative who has your back and will not snitch, you can pull it off. Granted, you have to produce documentation to prove you live there. I strongly considered doing that, but decided to forego MCPS altogether. If your local school is such sh1t that you wouldn't send your child there, why send them to any of the schools in MCPS?

OP, do NOT follow this advice. MCPS has identified families not living in the proper school zone and has removed those students from their schools mid year.

DP

Do you actually know of someone where this happened? Honestly?

Because we know of several families who have done this for years without ever getting caught. It’s very difficult to prove that a kid lives at a certain address. Especially when they sue a grandparent or other family member’s address.

I am not the PP but I do know someone personally that this happened to. They weren't even being shady, and the two schools in question were both East County. All it takes is one parent getting mad at your kid, or deciding the school is overcrowded, to make a report.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the repercussions if MCPS finds out you've used a relative's address to get your child enrolled in a different MCPS school district? Does anyone have experience with this? And if so, what is the process that MCPS uses to discover and crack down on such situations?

MCPS is overcrowded and poorly managed. If this is a close relative who has your back and will not snitch, you can pull it off. Granted, you have to produce documentation to prove you live there. I strongly considered doing that, but decided to forego MCPS altogether. If your local school is such sh1t that you wouldn't send your child there, why send them to any of the schools in MCPS?

OP, do NOT follow this advice. MCPS has identified families not living in the proper school zone and has removed those students from their schools mid year.

DP

Do you actually know of someone where this happened? Honestly?

Because we know of several families who have done this for years without ever getting caught. It’s very difficult to prove that a kid lives at a certain address. Especially when they sue a grandparent or other family member’s address.

I am not the PP but I do know someone personally that this happened to. They weren't even being shady, and the two schools in question were both East County. All it takes is one parent getting mad at your kid, or deciding the school is overcrowded, to make a report.

If I knew someone doing this, I'd turn them in in a heartbeat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the repercussions if MCPS finds out you've used a relative's address to get your child enrolled in a different MCPS school district? Does anyone have experience with this? And if so, what is the process that MCPS uses to discover and crack down on such situations?

MCPS is overcrowded and poorly managed. If this is a close relative who has your back and will not snitch, you can pull it off. Granted, you have to produce documentation to prove you live there. I strongly considered doing that, but decided to forego MCPS altogether. If your local school is such sh1t that you wouldn't send your child there, why send them to any of the schools in MCPS?

OP, do NOT follow this advice. MCPS has identified families not living in the proper school zone and has removed those students from their schools mid year.

DP

Do you actually know of someone where this happened? Honestly?

Because we know of several families who have done this for years without ever getting caught. It’s very difficult to prove that a kid lives at a certain address. Especially when they sue a grandparent or other family member’s address.

Why do people do this kind of stuff? Is there a legitimate reason for doing this?

[Anonymous]

Someone was arrested for this about 10 years ago. I know someone who got so scared by this that she moved into the actual school area she was lying about, so she wouldn't get caught.

I could not live with that level of guilt and anxiety. Just fill out a COSA form.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the repercussions if MCPS finds out you've used a relative's address to get your child enrolled in a different MCPS school district? Does anyone have experience with this? And if so, what is the process that MCPS uses to discover and crack down on such situations?

MCPS is overcrowded and poorly managed. If this is a close relative who has your back and will not snitch, you can pull it off. Granted, you have to produce documentation to prove you live there. I strongly considered doing that, but decided to forego MCPS altogether. If your local school is such sh1t that you wouldn't send your child there, why send them to any of the schools in MCPS?

OP, do NOT follow this advice. MCPS has identified families not living in the proper school zone and has removed those students from their schools mid year.

DP

Do you actually know of someone where this happened? Honestly?

Because we know of several families who have done this for years without ever getting caught. It’s very difficult to prove that a kid lives at a certain address. Especially when they sue a grandparent or other family member’s address.

I am not the PP but I do know someone personally that this happened to. They weren't even being shady, and the two schools in question were both East County. All it takes is one parent getting mad at your kid, or deciding the school is overcrowded, to make a report.

If I knew someone doing this, I'd turn them in in a heartbeat.

The issue is that even if you turned them in, or reported them, there isn’t much MCPS can do.

MCPS is short-staffed as it is. It’s not like the school Secretary is going to visit this person’s address to verify that the kid lives there. It’s very easy to have a bill or other piece of mail sent to an alternate address, if the school were to ask for proof.

And once you are in the system in ES as being at a certain (false) address, nobody ever requests proof of residency again. You just automatically move up to the next MS/HS.

At least, that is what we have seen. Families that use a grandparents address when the kids are young easily stay in that cluster even when they live elsewhere. And there is no ‘Residency Fraud’ department in MCPS that does targeted enforcement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the repercussions if MCPS finds out you've used a relative's address to get your child enrolled in a different MCPS school district? Does anyone have experience with this? And if so, what is the process that MCPS uses to discover and crack down on such situations?

MCPS is overcrowded and poorly managed. If this is a close relative who has your back and will not snitch, you can pull it off. Granted, you have to produce documentation to prove you live there. I strongly considered doing that, but decided to forego MCPS altogether. If your local school is such sh1t that you wouldn't send your child there, why send them to any of the schools in MCPS?

OP, do NOT follow this advice. MCPS has identified families not living in the proper school zone and has removed those students from their schools mid year.

DP

Do you actually know of someone where this happened? Honestly?

Because we know of several families who have done this for years without ever getting caught. It’s very difficult to prove that a kid lives at a certain address. Especially when they sue a grandparent or other family member’s address.

I am not the PP but I do know someone personally that this happened to. They weren't even being shady, and the two schools in question were both East County. All it takes is one parent getting mad at your kid, or deciding the school is overcrowded, to make a report.

If I knew someone doing this, I'd turn them in in a heartbeat.

The issue is that even if you turned them in, or reported them, there isn’t much MCPS can do.

MCPS is short-staffed as it is. It’s not like the school Secretary is going to visit this person’s address to verify that the kid lives there. It’s very easy to have a bill or other piece of mail sent to an alternate address, if the school were to ask for proof.

And once you are in the system in ES as being at a certain (false) address, nobody ever requests proof of residency again. You just automatically move up to the next MS/HS.

At least, that is what we have seen. Families that use a grandparents address when the kids are young easily stay in that cluster even when they live elsewhere. And there is no ‘Residency Fraud’ department in MCPS that does targeted enforcement.

If nothing else, those parents are teaching their kids that it's okay to lie and break the rules as long as they don't get caught. The kids also eventually will have to lie about where they live. They will learn to lie and cheat to get what they want. how is that better for the children?

If there is a true childcare hardship (e.g., grandparents caring for children after school), they can get a COSA. I know someone who got a COSA in Kindergarten simply because there was a younger child whose preschool was close to the COSA school, and mom said she couldn't both supervise the older child and drop the younger one off at preschool if the older child went to the home school. MCPS then allowed both children to go to the COSA school. I've known people who got a COSA because the home school was an old building and a new building would be better for the child's allergies.

Unless the COSA school is very overcrowded or you have no justification at all for the request it's not hard to get a COSA. Just follow the rules.

[Anonymous]

Our neighbors let their nanny use their address so her kids can go to a better school. She literally did it for the last decade. She doesn’t even work for the family anymore, but still uses their address. The family/our neighbors are fine with it.

Our school isn’t crowded, fwiw.

[Anonymous]

I work in a lower-income school in MoCo. We don't pursue it unless

A) the kid lives in a different county
or
B) the kid lives in DC or VA
or
C) the kid is a low-achieving student who rarely comes to school. We don't bother the good/excellent students who are trying to get a good education with us who get to school on time each day. We want them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who does it. She has 2 kids assigned to an Elem in east county but drives them to a school in Rockville every day. I think it’s wrong but she’s been getting away with it for 5 years now.

Seems like a lot of effort for...Rockville

LOL! I live in Rockville and I agree. I don’t even think our school is that great. But there are SO many families that do this. My kid played soccer with two kids who do this.

I'm slightly late for the party but I couldn't help but to chime in when I saw this comment. When my child was in elementary, she had a friend whose parents were cheating the system. They lived in Rockville in this big-ass house and were driving their daughter daily to another school - also in Rockville! - for reasons I can't fathom till this very day. Granted, our ES was a Blue Ribbon school, and that, but it's not that their original home ES was in the Bronx; the elementary school curriculum is the same everywhere, and their girl was just an average student.

They used the address of the house that was within walking distance from the school.. Entirely bizarre.

When I read your story I just hear "our neighbors have a component to their lives that I don't know and feeling left out, I decided they're bad people."
It makes you (not them) look bad.

[Anonymous]

My niece and nephew are using our address...have been for years. There hasn't been an issue! Go ahead and do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the repercussions if MCPS finds out you've used a relative's address to get your child enrolled in a different MCPS school district? Does anyone have experience with this? And if so, what is the process that MCPS uses to discover and crack down on such situations?

MCPS is overcrowded and poorly managed. If this is a close relative who has your back and will not snitch, you can pull it off. Granted, you have to produce documentation to prove you live there. I strongly considered doing that, but decided to forego MCPS altogether. If your local school is such sh1t that you wouldn't send your child there, why send them to any of the schools in MCPS?

OP, do NOT follow this advice. MCPS has identified families not living in the proper school zone and has removed those students from their schools mid year.

No, they haven't. We go to an in-demand ES with several families who live in Howard County but have property in bounds for the school. This is well known - even the principal knows - and no one is doing a thing about it.

OP, [b]as long as you have a genuine link to the county, send your child. Trust me, no one is following up on this. If you don't have a genuine link (property, family who'd be willing to "rent" to you, etc) then yes, it's trickier. Otherwise, don't think twice.