Racine files residency fraud lawsuits against 6 Maryland parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we certain that these are the same people ... that was 16 years ago if they purchased in 2002...

I would find it interesting that the husband and wife with the same name - and the same address as the court filing were not the same people who purchased the house in 2002.

Bottom line -in 2002 they purchased a house - if it was an investment property or they intended to upgrade and were never able b/c of the market crash - who knows.

But purchasing a home in 2002 for that amount is not reflective of people living in poverty - these are people who decided to defraud DC.


And it is not a victimless crime. Some of the schools they attended were in demand schools. For every spot they took, a child was not admitted. Who knows who was the next person on the wait list. and where that child wound up at school. Did the family wind up paying for private? Did the family move? Did the family wind up at a school that most on DCUM wound not consider b/c they did not have any other options.

[Anonymous]

Bona fide District residents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we certain that these are the same people ... that was 16 years ago if they purchased in 2002...

I would find it interesting that the husband and wife with the same name - and the same address as the court filing were not the same people who purchased the house in 2002.

Bottom line -in 2002 they purchased a house - if it was an investment property or they intended to upgrade and were never able b/c of the market crash - who knows.

But purchasing a home in 2002 for that amount is not reflective of people living in poverty - these are people who decided to defraud DC.


And it is not a victimless crime. Some of the schools they attended were in demand schools. For every spot they took, a child was not admitted. Who knows who was the next person on the wait list. and where that child wound up at school. Did the family wind up paying for private? Did the family move? Did the family wind up at a school that most on DCUM wound not consider b/c they did not have any other options.

Even if the fraud student takes a spot in a less-sought after school, the fraudulent enrollment is still a theft of services and illegally diverts scarce resources that might otherwise support a tutor or science teacher or music program for DC students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems that PG still stands for Pervasive Grifter County.

You’ve said this before, and it’s still not clever. And anyway, the cheaters are definitely not limited to PG County. There are supposedly some at our school from Silver Spring.

No horse in this race, but what do you think it says about you that you take the time to critique how clever this person is or is not while irrationally defending PG County in a "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" kind of way. Asking for a friend.

PP here. I just don’t like how PG County is blamed for all of this area’s ills. I think there are racially tinged reasons why, but that’s another conversation.

Also, I’m not sure what you’re insinuating with the Hamlet quote, but I have no connection to PG. I was not “irrationally defending” the area—none of the suspected cheaters at our school live there, that I’ve heard of. Which makes sense, since it’s pretty far from our Wilson feeder.

It stands to reason that fraudsters live in various jurisdictions but the fact that the cases brought seem usually to involve PG residents suggest that it where a large number of fraudulently enrolled students in DC actually reside.

[Anonymous]

How difficult would it be for DCPS and charters to be enrolled in an e-verify (“D-verify”) type system that could quickly and efficiently confirm a parent’s name against DC tax/voter/public assistance/motor vehicle records?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How difficult would it be for DCPS and charters to be enrolled in an e-verify (“D-verify”) type system that could quickly and efficiently confirm a parent’s name against DC tax/voter/public assistance/motor vehicle records?

Not difficult at all. DC TAG applications now do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How difficult would it be for DCPS and charters to be enrolled in an e-verify (“D-verify”) type system that could quickly and efficiently confirm a parent’s name against DC tax/voter/public assistance/motor vehicle records?

Not difficult at all. DC TAG applications now do this.

But you would have to centralize the enrollment process to institute this for public schools (which is fine w/me) but some think would be a hassle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How difficult would it be for DCPS and charters to be enrolled in an e-verify (“D-verify”) type system that could quickly and efficiently confirm a parent’s name against DC tax/voter/public assistance/motor vehicle records?

Not difficult at all. DC TAG applications now do this.

But you would have to centralize the enrollment process to institute this for public schools (which is fine w/me) but some think would be a hassle.

OSSE could easily incentivize all the charters to participate by auditing all of their families if they don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How difficult would it be for DCPS and charters to be enrolled in an e-verify (“D-verify”) type system that could quickly and efficiently confirm a parent’s name against DC tax/voter/public assistance/motor vehicle records?

Not difficult at all. DC TAG applications now do this.

But you would have to centralize the enrollment process to institute this for public schools (which is fine w/me) but some think would be a hassle.

OSSE could easily incentivize all the charters to participate by auditing all of their families if they don't.

Here’s how you incentivize the public schools and the charters. If a fraudster student leaves, the school still keeps the per pupil allocation. But if OSSE finds that the school failed to verify residency or ignored red flags, then there should be a 3x allocation penalty assessed against the school. That, and give facility, staff members and other whistleblowers a reward for verified residency fraud cases, and DC will start to make a dent in this problem.

[Anonymous]

Why can’t those people who commit residency fraud just follow the law, instead of inventing pretext upon excuse upon lie? Obeying the law is a pretty easy principle, ya’ know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several neighbors in Takoma, DC are sending their kids down the street to school in Takoma Park. Their IB school would be Coolidge. Instead they're in a top middle school. Parents do what they need to do for the welfare of their kids. It's not our place to judge. Trust that there are many DC kids in school in MC and PG. We are inter-related communities. The money spent going after these people could be used to go after real criminals.

No judgement just face the consequences if get caught. The implications are many re. planning, staffing, resources, etc. Think big picture not small...

Right, but the cost/benefit of these cases doesn't seem worth it. Fire DC workers for fraud, fine. Prosecute SNAP abuse, fine. But these parents are not going to be able to afford treble damages. And there are many parents shuffling kids back and forth across DC/MC/PG border. So spend all of the money investigating and then charging and then having a trial and....no recovery. When there are many parents in each jurisdiction doing this, and having done this for decades particularly in the border wards (4, 8, etc.). I asked several coworkers who grew up in Maryland but went to school in DC on their grandparents' address. Their response was that everybody did when they were growing up. Sure, our tax dollars are supporting them - but PG/MC taxpayers are supporting DC kids, too. Parents are going to do what they think works best for their kids. period.

Disagree 100 percent. Investigate them all. You don't have to prosecute them all, but kick out all the kids and prosecute some parents.

Why prosecute parents? To criminalize poverty? To waste hours and hours of expensive attorney time that could be spent going after real criminals? What is the point? We get that you given absolutely zero effs about children who are not your own, what good is served by bankrupting the parents, and having them thrown in prison for contempt in not paying these huge treble damages?

So why even have residency rules then?

Yeah, why not also let our DC kids apply to TJ or the gifted magnets in MD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How difficult would it be for DCPS and charters to be enrolled in an e-verify (“D-verify”) type system that could quickly and efficiently confirm a parent’s name against DC tax/voter/public assistance/motor vehicle records?

Not difficult at all. DC TAG applications now do this.

But you would have to centralize the enrollment process to institute this for public schools (which is fine w/me) but some think would be a hassle.

OSSE could easily incentivize all the charters to participate by auditing all of their families if they don't.

Here’s how you incentivize the public schools and the charters. If a fraudster student leaves, the school still keeps the per pupil allocation. But if OSSE finds that the school failed to verify residency or ignored red flags, then there should be a 3x allocation penalty assessed against the school. That, and give facility, staff members and other whistleblowers a reward for verified residency fraud cases, and DC will start to make a dent in this problem.

So your plan is to take even more money away from the resident students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How difficult would it be for DCPS and charters to be enrolled in an e-verify (“D-verify”) type system that could quickly and efficiently confirm a parent’s name against DC tax/voter/public assistance/motor vehicle records?

Not difficult at all. DC TAG applications now do this.

But you would have to centralize the enrollment process to institute this for public schools (which is fine w/me) but some think would be a hassle.

OSSE could easily incentivize all the charters to participate by auditing all of their families if they don't.

Here’s how you incentivize the public schools and the charters. If a fraudster student leaves, the school still keeps the per pupil allocation. But if OSSE finds that the school failed to verify residency or ignored red flags, then there should be a 3x allocation penalty assessed against the school. That, and give facility, staff members and other whistleblowers a reward for verified residency fraud cases, and DC will start to make a dent in this problem.

So your plan is to take even more money away from the resident students?

The problem now is that unscrupulous school principals have a financial incentive to look the other way at residency fraud, particularly in under-capacity schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How difficult would it be for DCPS and charters to be enrolled in an e-verify (“D-verify”) type system that could quickly and efficiently confirm a parent’s name against DC tax/voter/public assistance/motor vehicle records?

Not difficult at all. DC TAG applications now do this.

But you would have to centralize the enrollment process to institute this for public schools (which is fine w/me) but some think would be a hassle.

OSSE could easily incentivize all the charters to participate by auditing all of their families if they don't.

Here’s how you incentivize the public schools and the charters. If a fraudster student leaves, the school still keeps the per pupil allocation. But if OSSE finds that the school failed to verify residency or ignored red flags, then there should be a 3x allocation penalty assessed against the school. That, and give facility, staff members and other whistleblowers a reward for verified residency fraud cases, and DC will start to make a dent in this problem.

So your plan is to take even more money away from the resident students?

The problem now is that unscrupulous school principals have a financial incentive to look the other way at residency fraud, particularly in under-capacity schools.

Which is why the enrollment function should be centralized and not done at every single school. Put it in the hands of someone whose budget / job does not depend on enrolling a certain number of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we certain that these are the same people ... that was 16 years ago if they purchased in 2002...

I would find it interesting that the husband and wife with the same name - and the same address as the court filing were not the same people who purchased the house in 2002.

Bottom line -in 2002 they purchased a house - if it was an investment property or they intended to upgrade and were never able b/c of the market crash - who knows.

But purchasing a home in 2002 for that amount is not reflective of people living in poverty - these are people who decided to defraud DC.


And it is not a victimless crime. Some of the schools they attended were in demand schools. For every spot they took, a child was not admitted. Who knows who was the next person on the wait list. and where that child wound up at school. Did the family wind up paying for private? Did the family move? Did the family wind up at a school that most on DCUM wound not consider b/c they did not have any other options.

It’s a 3000 sq foot home that was built in 2002.