Suspected lottery scammer

[Anonymous]

While this person may not be a scammer and it may be a glitch, for those of us whose children will be in separate schools next year and whose younger child will be at a must less desirable school than our older child, this is serious. I know other people's problems seem insignificant if you lack basic empathy. These are plenty of families who are trying within the rules to get our kids into the best schools possible and to keep siblings together, so that we don't have to juggle working full time with multiple drop offs and pickups.

[Anonymous]

enrollment at most of these schools is low enough (below 300 pupils) that the principals pretty much know all the kids, as do the teachers. there is no skirting the system in this way. lying will get you nowhere, and will probably bust your chances of getting in ANYWHERE.

I realize this is a slightly different scheme, but, if the above were true, why do I personally know so many children who attend DCPSs where *Grandma* lives? Not where the kid lives and sleeps, but where Grandma has a house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

enrollment at most of these schools is low enough (below 300 pupils) that the principals pretty much know all the kids, as do the teachers. there is no skirting the system in this way. lying will get you nowhere, and will probably bust your chances of getting in ANYWHERE.

I realize this is a slightly different scheme, but, if the above were true, why do I personally know so many children who attend DCPSs where *Grandma* lives? Not where the kid lives and sleeps, but where Grandma has a house.

This is the problem! I see plenty of MD plates at my DC's school and now I'm beginning to wonder how many current MD kids are taking up spaces in DCPS. I overhead a conversation between 2 MD parents about entering the lottery and hoping their kids get a space with their siblings who are now attending schools in Capitol Hill. So their siblings are taking up spaces in PK and they plan to send additional kids to PS. I really wonder how many spaces will open up if the MD parents are found out.

[Anonymous]

By the way, 6251 is now listed as "no preference" in any of the schools, and got in no where.

[Anonymous]

It's 6521, and they are still in at 1 school and in the top 3 at 4 others, all with sibling preference.

[Anonymous]

I think it's perfectly fine to call attention this. That's the whole purpose of transparency -- to reduce corruption.

[Anonymous]

maybe this person misunderstood the OOB/w Sibling thing and thought that if he/she was entering two kids into the lottery this is what it should be for all schools selected?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:maybe this person misunderstood the OOB/w Sibling thing and thought that if he/she was entering two kids into the lottery this is what it should be for all schools selected?

when you select this on the lottery form it is pretty clear as to what you are doing. i did not find a lot of room for mis-understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes it is embarrassing to be a member of this community. Should we form a mob? Would that satisfy you all? If this is what it's come to, checking other people's numbers and breathlessly reporting them to an anonymous board, then wow. "Disqualified" outright? No education for you!

But, if this snooping of yours bothers you, contact DCPS, and who knows, perhaps it is a scam. Perhaps it is not. But before getting people up in arms, why not check into it FIRST, then if there is something fishy reporting it?

And how would you suggest doing this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What would have been really nice is if your DW had just offered to buy the woman's coffee.

Possibly the right outcome if the woman did not have enough money for a cup of coffee, but coming up short on her coffee and Sunday Times (just guessing at the paper) and she takes from the barristas over putting back the paper, not feeling so much empathy here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes it is embarrassing to be a member of this community. Should we form a mob? Would that satisfy you all? If this is what it's come to, checking other people's numbers and breathlessly reporting them to an anonymous board, then wow. "Disqualified" outright? No education for you!

But, if this snooping of yours bothers you, contact DCPS, and who knows, perhaps it is a scam. Perhaps it is not. But before getting people up in arms, why not check into it FIRST, then if there is something fishy reporting it?

And how would you suggest doing this?

Um. Duh. Doing exactly what ended up happening - calling DCPS when it looked like something was fishy - not posting it on here riling up the masses. Because there ARE possibilities of why this might be true. (foster families, pending adoptions, etc - and don't scoff - I actually in real life know two examples of where this would be a possible scenario). So, why not look into it first (hello, DCPS - I'm not sure I understand this, can you clarify what I am seeing here?) rather than posting on this board SCAMMER ALERT! CHEATER! DISQUALIFY! Because, if you are a person who is in one of the (admittedly rare/unlikely) scenarios, perhaps it would be extremely hurtful to read a thread calling your family situation into question. Or, you know, maybe it was just a mistake by someone who doesn't speak english, or who might be doing the best they can but has a lower IQ or other personal, private reasons for not understanding.

It makes me think of people who march up to seemingly able bodied people who park in handicapped spots and berate them for abuse - only to have the person defend their real, but not always visible disabilty. Or the person who makes an honest mistake only to be loudly and publicly called on it, when a simple, are you sure that's what you meant to do would suffice. It's something called discretion. Or class. Or good upbringing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What would have been really nice is if your DW had just offered to buy the woman's coffee.

And reward someone for bad behavior? You must be high. First, stealing is WRONG. Second, I think stealing tips is an especially heinous offense, there is no "Robin Hood" aspect to it, which creates an exception that some people find morally allowable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

enrollment at most of these schools is low enough (below 300 pupils) that the principals pretty much know all the kids, as do the teachers. there is no skirting the system in this way. lying will get you nowhere, and will probably bust your chances of getting in ANYWHERE.

I realize this is a slightly different scheme, but, if the above were true, why do I personally know so many children who attend DCPSs where *Grandma* lives? Not where the kid lives and sleeps, but where Grandma has a house.

If you personally know them, report them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's perfectly fine to call attention this. That's the whole purpose of transparency -- to reduce corruption.

Hmmm. Anonymous postings and unverifiable accusations. How is this transparent?

I'm one of those people who has been the subject of all kinds of prejudice. "OOB-looking", "must be a nanny", "on financial aid", etc. (Never a Marylander. Perish the thought.) Let's try not to jump to conclusions or judge others. Don't feed the rumor mill lest you be ground under the wheel one day.

Try to put things in perspective. The letter of the law says you are entitled to an in-boundary spot beginning in kindergarten. Other than that, my understanding is the city has no obligation to even hold a lottery. It's a crazy system for pretty much all of us.

In Starbucks, why not just leave a bigger tip for your latte and ask the victim (barista) if there's anything you can do (talk to manager, cops, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes it is embarrassing to be a member of this community. Should we form a mob? Would that satisfy you all? If this is what it's come to, checking other people's numbers and breathlessly reporting them to an anonymous board, then wow. "Disqualified" outright? No education for you!

But, if this snooping of yours bothers you, contact DCPS, and who knows, perhaps it is a scam. Perhaps it is not. But before getting people up in arms, why not check into it FIRST, then if there is something fishy reporting it?

And how would you suggest doing this?

Um. Duh. Doing exactly what ended up happening - calling DCPS when it looked like something was fishy - not posting it on here riling up the masses. Because there ARE possibilities of why this might be true. (foster families, pending adoptions, etc - and don't scoff - I actually in real life know two examples of where this would be a possible scenario). So, why not look into it first (hello, DCPS - I'm not sure I understand this, can you clarify what I am seeing here?) rather than posting on this board SCAMMER ALERT! CHEATER! DISQUALIFY! Because, if you are a person who is in one of the (admittedly rare/unlikely) scenarios, perhaps it would be extremely hurtful to read a thread calling your family situation into question. Or, you know, maybe it was just a mistake by someone who doesn't speak english, or who might be doing the best they can but has a lower IQ or other personal, private reasons for not understanding.

It makes me think of people who march up to seemingly able bodied people who park in handicapped spots and berate them for abuse - only to have the person defend their real, but not always visible disabilty. Or the person who makes an honest mistake only to be loudly and publicly called on it, when a simple, are you sure that's what you meant to do would suffice. It's something called discretion. Or class. Or good upbringing.

I think it's totally awesome that you personally know two examples where a single family has five sibling preferences at *five* different schools. I had a friend who once decided to watch television on his roof. But if I look across the alley at my neighbor's house and see some guys I don't know on the roof taking a TV and dining room chairs out of the roof hatch, I'm going to ask them WTF they're doing. And if (as in the case of the DCPS lottery) I can't ask them directly, you can be damned sure I'm going to raise a stink about it. What exactly is the downside?

Your comparisons are laughably inapt. No one is yelling at a diabled person in a parking lot. They're asking for advice on a public forum about an anonymous tracking number in a public lottery. Get over yourself, you ridiculous drama queen.