Accepting lottery spot without DC residency?

[Anonymous]

Help!

Our DC received a great lottery match but we haven’t found a home in DC to move into in the two weeks since decisions were released and fear we won’t by the lottery acceptance deadline of 5/1. We would be moving into DC from the suburbs.

What are my options in order to keep the match? I don’t think we will find a home we like in the in-boundary school neighborhood, so we would prefer to stay OOB — at least for the first year, to confirm it is a fit. We have multiple kids.

If we had another 4-6 weeks we could find a suitable rental, I am sure of it.

Should we rent a place in DC just for a month, in order to use the address to reserve our DC’s spot for now, and then replace it with a more permanent DC address before school starts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Help!

Our DC received a great lottery match but we haven’t found a home in DC to move into in the two weeks since decisions were released and fear we won’t by the lottery acceptance deadline of 5/1. We would be moving into DC from the suburbs.

What are my options in order to keep the match? I don’t think we will find a home we like in the in-boundary school neighborhood, so we would prefer to stay OOB — at least for the first year, to confirm it is a fit. We have multiple kids.

If we had another 4-6 weeks we could find a suitable rental, I am sure of it.

Should we rent a place in DC just for a month, in order to use the address to reserve our DC’s spot for now, and then replace it with a more permanent DC address before school starts?

Tough situation. You should google the DCPS residency requirements. A one-month lease is not going to get you the spot. You probably should call the school and talk to the registrar.

[Anonymous]

DC residency requirements are strict and frankly a real headache. I echo calling the school and asking but when we moved to our IB school (and had bought a house!) we still found it a massive PITA to get them everything they wanted.

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand how OP could even enter the lottery without putting in a DC address?

[Anonymous]

I suspect you'll need to (quickly!) find any rental you can in the district, sign a year lease, move in for a few weeks (adventure!), and then when you find your permanent location, move their and sublet your old place. You're also going to have to get your drivers license updated to your new address before 5/1 (just a lease isn't enough for enrollment).

It's important to note: You can't just rent the apartment and let it sit empty while you keep living in MD or VA or wherever. You have to MOVE THERE. Which may, technically, make your child ineligible to continue at their suburban school.

I mean, whether you can get away with it or not is a different question, but the letter and spirit of the law are quite clear: To enroll, you need to be a DC resident, and right now... you're not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how OP could even enter the lottery without putting in a DC address?

You can enter the lottery without a DC address; you just don't get in-boundary preference anywhere and you have to prove residency if you actually match in order to enroll. If OP got in-boundary preference, then she listed an address in-boundary. For enrollment, she doesn't have to prove she lives at that address but she does need to show she is living somewhere in the boundary.

OP, rent something less than satisfactory in-bounds and live with it for a year. Or don't enroll your kids now and try again once you buy a house there. Once you're in grades K-12 they have to take you at your IB school at any time. If any of your kids are in PK3 or 4, they'll get sibling preference on the waitlist once their older siblings enroll. But "I'd prefer to live out of bounds and right now I don't live in DC at all" is not going to fly with the registrar. There are enrollment audits. They need to follow rules.

[Anonymous]

"I don’t think we will find a home we like in the in-boundary school neighborhood, so we would prefer to stay OOB"

^ umm if you matched because of in-bound preference, you'll lose that spot if you can't prove you actually reside not just in DC but in that school's boundary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suspect you'll need to (quickly!) find any rental you can in the district, sign a year lease, move in for a few weeks (adventure!), and then when you find your permanent location, move their and sublet your old place. You're also going to have to get your drivers license updated to your new address before 5/1 (just a lease isn't enough for enrollment).

It's important to note: You can't just rent the apartment and let it sit empty while you keep living in MD or VA or wherever. You have to MOVE THERE. Which may, technically, make your child ineligible to continue at their suburban school.

I mean, whether you can get away with it or not is a different question, but the letter and spirit of the law are quite clear: To enroll, you need to be a DC resident, and right now... you're not.

In addition to DC drivers license and registration, I recall 2 months worth of utilities bill too no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suspect you'll need to (quickly!) find any rental you can in the district, sign a year lease, move in for a few weeks (adventure!), and then when you find your permanent location, move their and sublet your old place. You're also going to have to get your drivers license updated to your new address before 5/1 (just a lease isn't enough for enrollment).

It's important to note: You can't just rent the apartment and let it sit empty while you keep living in MD or VA or wherever. You have to MOVE THERE. Which may, technically, make your child ineligible to continue at their suburban school.

I mean, whether you can get away with it or not is a different question, but the letter and spirit of the law are quite clear: To enroll, you need to be a DC resident, and right now... you're not.

In addition to DC drivers license and registration, I recall 2 months worth of utilities bill too no?

Yes, 2 consequtive months of bills OR a paystub that shows you pay DC taxes AND has your address on it. (My old employer didn't list addresses on the pay stubs and even though it showed I was paying DC taxes, they wouldn't accept it.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I don’t think we will find a home we like in the in-boundary school neighborhood, so we would prefer to stay OOB"

^ umm if you matched because of in-bound preference, you'll lose that spot if you can't prove you actually reside not just in DC but in that school's boundary.

It sounds to me like they matched OOB, and want to accept the spot because they aren't sure they can afford something IB. I don't read this as saying they claimed an IB preference.

[Anonymous]

Yea, I don’t see how OP is going to pull this together and have appropriate documentation because she doesn’t even live in the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yea, I don’t see how OP is going to pull this together and have appropriate documentation because she doesn’t even live in the city.

Do you actually have to show all the paperwork when you accept?

[Anonymous]

This is wild - good luck.

[Anonymous]

You can do a home visit to verify. If you actually live in DC at the time of enrollment and you're not trying to enroll based on an IB preference you don't have, you can work this out.

[Anonymous]

Won’t work.