Cheh letter to OSSE on Ellington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question that I haven't seen answered anywhere: When they did the audit of 100 students and found 50 were not DC residents, how were they selected? Did they pick 100 kids at random to audit, or did they pick the 100 most dubious records to start with?

It's a big problem either way, but if it was the former, holy moly. I don't see how the school can survive losing half its students.

The audit guidelines published on OSSEs website say that the 2017 audit was to pull 20% of all students files at random (previous years they checked 10% at random).

So there's likely to be 250 out-of-District kids when the dust clears? I think that's the end of Ellington as we know it.

Or a big tuition windfall to the city.

[Anonymous]

Will people pay up in a hurry?
Or leave the school?

Will some kids who were not offered spots get in now?

Also, I don't get the Eaton comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question that I haven't seen answered anywhere: When they did the audit of 100 students and found 50 were not DC residents, how were they selected? Did they pick 100 kids at random to audit, or did they pick the 100 most dubious records to start with?

It's a big problem either way, but if it was the former, holy moly. I don't see how the school can survive losing half its students.

The audit guidelines published on OSSEs website say that the 2017 audit was to pull 20% of all students files at random (previous years they checked 10% at random).

So there's likely to be 250 out-of-District kids when the dust clears? I think that's the end of Ellington as we know it.

Or a big tuition windfall to the city.

If the city really wanted to get tough, they could sue for treble damages. That's $36,000 for each year attended. Kids currently at the school have been there an average of 2.5 years so that's an average of $90,000 per kid, or $23 million. Plus they could go after recent graduates for at least a couple of years.

I can't imagine the city getting that tough. But it's going to be a fiasco either way. Are kids going to have to leave mid-year if their parents don't pony up? Will seniors be able to graduate? I bet a lot of families aren't going to want to pay, so is the school going to be hollowed out? It's going to be messy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will people pay up in a hurry?
Or leave the school?

Will some kids who were not offered spots get in now?

Also, I don't get the Eaton comment.

In the last boundary adjustment Eaton got moved from feeding Deal to feeding Hardy. Eaton parents never miss an opportunity to grouse about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question that I haven't seen answered anywhere: When they did the audit of 100 students and found 50 were not DC residents, how were they selected? Did they pick 100 kids at random to audit, or did they pick the 100 most dubious records to start with?

It's a big problem either way, but if it was the former, holy moly. I don't see how the school can survive losing half its students.

The audit guidelines published on OSSEs website say that the 2017 audit was to pull 20% of all students files at random (previous years they checked 10% at random).

So there's likely to be 250 out-of-District kids when the dust clears? I think that's the end of Ellington as we know it.

Or a big tuition windfall to the city.

If the city really wanted to get tough, they could sue for treble damages. That's $36,000 for each year attended. Kids currently at the school have been there an average of 2.5 years so that's an average of $90,000 per kid, or $23 million. Plus they could go after recent graduates for at least a couple of years.

I can't imagine the city getting that tough. But it's going to be a fiasco either way. Are kids going to have to leave mid-year if their parents don't pony up? Will seniors be able to graduate? I bet a lot of families aren't going to want to pay, so is the school going to be hollowed out? It's going to be messy.

No one knows yet.

The Post published the results of the audit -- but it hasn't been PROVEN yet that these families aren't residents, just that their paperwork was bad (I assume many, ifnot most, are not).

But proving it is the AG's job.

When the AG went after the police officers, it took over a year to investigate and bring the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question that I haven't seen answered anywhere: When they did the audit of 100 students and found 50 were not DC residents, how were they selected? Did they pick 100 kids at random to audit, or did they pick the 100 most dubious records to start with?

It's a big problem either way, but if it was the former, holy moly. I don't see how the school can survive losing half its students.

The audit guidelines published on OSSEs website say that the 2017 audit was to pull 20% of all students files at random (previous years they checked 10% at random).

So there's likely to be 250 out-of-District kids when the dust clears? I think that's the end of Ellington as we know it.

Or a big tuition windfall to the city.

If the city really wanted to get tough, they could sue for treble damages. That's $36,000 for each year attended. Kids currently at the school have been there an average of 2.5 years so that's an average of $90,000 per kid, or $23 million. Plus they could go after recent graduates for at least a couple of years.

I can't imagine the city getting that tough. But it's going to be a fiasco either way. Are kids going to have to leave mid-year if their parents don't pony up? Will seniors be able to graduate? I bet a lot of families aren't going to want to pay, so is the school going to be hollowed out? It's going to be messy.

I don't think parents should have to pay treble damages, but, I do think they should be required to sign up for a payment plan in order to pay tuition in full.

[Anonymous]

They should have to pay triple. The school system has rules and these parents chose not to follow the rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will people pay up in a hurry?
Or leave the school?

Will some kids who were not offered spots get in now?

Also, I don't get the Eaton comment.

In the last boundary adjustment Eaton got moved from feeding Deal to feeding Hardy. Eaton parents never miss an opportunity to grouse about it.

To me it just show how non-prescient they were. Eaton was zoned for both Deal and Hardy and with Deal facing huge overcrowding issues - did they really think they would retain feeder rights? Plain dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question that I haven't seen answered anywhere: When they did the audit of 100 students and found 50 were not DC residents, how were they selected? Did they pick 100 kids at random to audit, or did they pick the 100 most dubious records to start with?

It's a big problem either way, but if it was the former, holy moly. I don't see how the school can survive losing half its students.

The audit guidelines published on OSSEs website say that the 2017 audit was to pull 20% of all students files at random (previous years they checked 10% at random).

So there's likely to be 250 out-of-District kids when the dust clears? I think that's the end of Ellington as we know it.

Or a big tuition windfall to the city.

If the city really wanted to get tough, they could sue for treble damages. That's $36,000 for each year attended. Kids currently at the school have been there an average of 2.5 years so that's an average of $90,000 per kid, or $23 million. Plus they could go after recent graduates for at least a couple of years.

I can't imagine the city getting that tough. But it's going to be a fiasco either way. Are kids going to have to leave mid-year if their parents don't pony up? Will seniors be able to graduate? I bet a lot of families aren't going to want to pay, so is the school going to be hollowed out? It's going to be messy.

I don't think parents should have to pay treble damages, but, I do think they should be required to sign up for a payment plan in order to pay tuition in full.

Doesn't matter what you think. The False Claims Act requires treble damages. Think about that the next time you scribble Grandma's address on the enrollment form hoping it is messy enough to be able to feign your way out of intentional fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will people pay up in a hurry?
Or leave the school?

Will some kids who were not offered spots get in now?

Also, I don't get the Eaton comment.

In the last boundary adjustment Eaton got moved from feeding Deal to feeding Hardy. Eaton parents never miss an opportunity to grouse about it.

To me it just show how non-prescient they were. Eaton was zoned for both Deal and Hardy and with Deal facing huge overcrowding issues - did they really think they would retain feeder rights? Plain dumb.

And the shelter (with no plans for how it would work) AND then Cheh bumping Eaton to the head of the renovation one, pissing other schools off, then not providing enough money and throwing around promises like the swing space will be at UDC (when it totally won't be at UDC). She's no friend to Eaton, but that is off topic.

[Anonymous]

The thing about this is, of the 100 random students checked, 50 had questionable paperwork.

But do we really think half the school - 250 kids - are out of DC cheaters? No, what's more likely is their registrar is sloppy. I bet they will catch some cheers, but it'll be like 5. Maybe 20.

[Anonymous]

A letter is nice, but isn't action. Let's see some triple tuition or kids kicked out off school. Then I'll believe someone is serious.

[Anonymous]

I’d like to see some very basic data which should be super easy for Ellington to provide. For the last four years, How many DC applicants were there for Ellington? How many auditioned and for which programs? And how many were not accepted? I want to see how they justify turning away child of District tax-paying residents while knowingly letting in outnod state kids. DUKE ELLINGTON IS A DC PUBLIC SCHOOL. it isn’t a private school. It isn’t a regional magnet. It’s a DCPS. It is all so maddening. So we built a palace that was $100 million over budget so kids from MD and VA can benefit. Enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d like to see some very basic data which should be super easy for Ellington to provide. For the last four years, How many DC applicants were there for Ellington? How many auditioned and for which programs? And how many were not accepted? I want to see how they justify turning away child of District tax-paying residents while knowingly letting in outnod state kids. DUKE ELLINGTON IS A DC PUBLIC SCHOOL. it isn’t a private school. It isn’t a regional magnet. It’s a DCPS. It is all so maddening. So we built a palace that was $100 million over budget so kids from MD and VA can benefit. Enough.

+1 million. I don’t pay DC ridiculously high income tax for others who don’t live in DC to benefit.

[Anonymous]

Is it possible Duke Ellington had to find more students while they were in swing space so that it would be a full student body when they finally occupied?

Another comment, this one tongue-in-cheek: Antwan Wilson gave the parents of non-resident cheaters the perfect talking point: "We didn't make any demands, we were offered the spot. We didn't know we were doing anything wrong..."