Experience with moving mid-year to DCPS and the residency verification process

[masmith1976]

Hi,

We are moving from overseas to DC and are having a hard time registering our daughter for elementary school. We are having difficulty proving residency since we are moving for new jobs and won't have pay stubs until 3 weeks after we arrive in DC. We rented an Airbnb for three month, so we won't have bills or a permanent address to get a drivers license.

As a result, I requested a home visit, but my request doesn't appear to be going anywhere.

This is a big transition for our child, and I think not being in school for several weeks would not be beneficial.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

[Anonymous]

An airbnb is like a hotel-does not edtablish reaidency. How will you enroll your child without knowing which school boundary you will actually be living in?

[Anonymous]

We are renting a house via Airbnb for three months while we look for a house to buy. Our intention is to stay in the same district. My spouse and I will both have full time jobs in DC.

[Anonymous]

Have you called the school directly? What school is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are renting a house via Airbnb for three months while we look for a house to buy. Our intention is to stay in the same district. My spouse and I will both have full time jobs in DC.

Is the airbnb where you plan to rent? Because you don't want to have to move the kid 3 months into things.

[Anonymous]

What school are you trying to rent inbounds for? If it’s an over enrolled and popular school, of course they are going to look suspiciously on this plan. That being said you are probably meeting the criteria for homeless so you could either call the school and say you would like to register as homeless and ask what they need or call the office in charge of supporting homeless students and ask them for help.

[Anonymous]

Our JLKM school deals with this all the time and helps guide you - but you need a real lease first, I believe. What school? Give us that it we can be of more help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you called the school directly? What school is it?

This is the best way to do it. They are familiar with the rules and what a mess it can be, so they should be able to guide you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our JLKM school deals with this all the time and helps guide you - but you need a real lease first, I believe. What school? Give us that it we can be of more help.

This. You can imagine that it would be chaos if everyone staying in an Airbnb was allowed to enroll their kids in the neighborhood school (I mean, in DC that would lead to so many families from around the city getting an Airbnb in the good districts in August.)

You need to have residency.

[Anonymous]

Just call the school as others have said. We don't know rules for this exact scenario.

[Anonymous]

you might need to involve some of the enrollment of homeless children personnel at central to work through this. unsurprising a local school registrar/principal cannot do it based on what you have.

[Anonymous]

You need residency. Get a real lease from your Airbnb host.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need residency. Get a real lease from your Airbnb host.

If OP got a 3 month lease from their Airbnb owner, would DCPS consider a 3 month lease sufficient to establish residency? Would the lease have to be for a longer period?

[Anonymous]

Here's a link to the form to establish residency for DCPS: https://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/publication/attachments/2024%202025%20School%20Year%20DC%20Residency%20Verification%20Form.English.pdf

The form indicates to establish residency you need at least 3 documents, and a lease is just one of those. The other documents are difficult to get very quickly (pay stub, utilities receipt in your name showing you've paid for the utilities... which would require at least 2 months, assuming you got utilities in your name....)

Looks like the only thing that would work quickly is the home visit option. Here's what it says about not being able to establish residency by gathering the required documents:

Verify through a home visit. If you are unable to verify through one of the above methods, speak with your school official about a home visit. The visit must occur inside the residence and demonstrate that the enrolling person and the student reside in the home.

Has anyone done a home visit? How long does it take to get one scheduled and who comes out to do it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need residency. Get a real lease from your Airbnb host.

If OP got a 3 month lease from their Airbnb owner, would DCPS consider a 3 month lease sufficient to establish residency? Would the lease have to be for a longer period?

I would not think so. Basically, legally, they are homeless. If all it took to get into a good school track in DC was renting an AirBNB for three months, you and I both know that many parents would do it since once you are in you're not usually kicked out.

Also, unless the owner is also living on the premises, it is illegal for someone to rent a home on AirBNB in the district, so that's another issue.