In-bounds verification

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The truth is, nobody is paying attention. There are lots of people who live in Maryland enrolled in DC schools. At least you're a DC taxpayer.

I live by many DC Public schools. Duke, Hyde etc..Most parents/caregivers show up to pick up students with Maryland or Virginia tags on their cars.

D.C. Finds That Almost A Quarter Of Students At Acclaimed Public Arts School Are Attending Illegally: https://wamu.org/story/18/05/11/d-c-finds-almost-quarter-students-acclaimed-public-arts-school-attending-illegally/

Why are Maryland, Virginia students in D.C. schools? Council to hold hearing on illegal enrollments.

Although many of these stories are from years ago, the abuse continues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there are two conversations being had here:

1) Is it possible to claim an address you own but don't live in for purposes of getting into a better DCPS, even if you live OOB? The answer is yes, it is possible. As long as you get mail there and feel comfortable with the lie (and it is a lie, it's not your residence if you don't live there), you can do this and OSSE has made it clear they don't investigate or prosecute it.

2) Do people in DC consider this a cool and honorable way to get your kid into the DCPS of your choice? While I see there are posters claiming that yes, people are fine with this, there are clearly quite a few people how think it's crappy. Some people may not care what others think and will do it anyway, other people might decide it's not worth the judgment. I personally would be most uncomfortable with the message it sends to my kids, as the kids WILL figure it out at some point. I don't know about the wisdom of teaching children that taking advantage of a loophole by being somewhat dishonest is a good way of gaining advantage over others. YMMV.

It's easy to say this without considering the circumstances of an individual family. Would you move to the burbs just to head off potential gossip over where you live? We enrolled our kids in one IB DCPS ES school when we were living in a small house we owned. A few months later, we moved to a larger house half a mile away. We kept the kids school #2 for a further six years. Had we kept the kids in school #1 they would have been the only students of their race there all the way from K to 5th. That's right, the only ones. The student body of the second school was diverse. What we did wasn't illegal per DCPS rules, which we explained to the kids many times, and it spared us countless hassles. Presumably, you're white, black or Latino. Hint, we're not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth is, nobody is paying attention. There are lots of people who live in Maryland enrolled in DC schools. At least you're a DC taxpayer.

I live by many DC Public schools. Duke, Hyde etc..Most parents/caregivers show up to pick up students with Maryland or Virginia tags on their cars.

D.C. Finds That Almost A Quarter Of Students At Acclaimed Public Arts School Are Attending Illegally: https://wamu.org/story/18/05/11/d-c-finds-almost-quarter-students-acclaimed-public-arts-school-attending-illegally/

Why are Maryland, Virginia students in D.C. schools? Council to hold hearing on illegal enrollments.

Although many of these stories are from years ago, the abuse continues.

This. Can't get excited about boundary cheaters who might not even have cheated in view of the scale of the problem of ongoing residency cheating in many DCPS programs. DC clearly doesn't require enough enrollment docs. In MD and VA, you need a deed to a property or current lease to enroll, plus a utilities bill and proof of withholding.

[Anonymous]

I don't know about the wisdom of teaching children that taking advantage of a loophole by being somewhat dishonest is a good way of gaining advantage over others.

Holier than thou BS. You can teach your children that following the rules is a good idea and that DC voters deserve good services for their tax dollars. Loophole is a highly subjective descriptor when it comes to IB verification. The rules state that if you live in an IB property when you enroll in a by-right school your children can freely stay in said school afterwards wherever you live in DC. Thus, no unfair advantage gained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We know a couple families at Brent in the upper grades who are probably boundary cheaters.They knock themselves out to keep up multiple row houses within half a mile of campus and to help the PTA. They didn’t take scarce ECE spots. I’ve never heard chatter about their residency situation. It’s not interesting to those of us who’ve been in the neighborhood for eons. We’d rather have them stick around than move to VA. Eyebrows may be raised in the part of relative newcomers to CH but the old guard doesn’t mind.

I've lived in CH for 13 years, I don't know if that makes me old guard or newcomer, but my own experience with schools and the lottery on the Hill makes me extremely resentful of this behavior. We ARE looking to move to the suburbs, in large part because of schools and the difficulty of getting into a decent elementary via lottery.

If you don't happen to own a second property on the Hill IB for a better school, and you strike out with the lottery, you are stuck with you IB. If on top of that, there are IB families who care about education and are involved with their school, but do this for LT/Brent which they get into by lying about their residence in forms, their refusal to actually attend and invest in their IB makes it harder to improve the IB.

Also, the defensive but hostile stance on this thread from boundary cheaters is deeply unpleasant and makes me like these neighbors even less.

Don't worry, I'm sure the feeling is mutual. Bye, I guess. Enjoy the dysfunctional education system you've arranged for yourselves here.

[Anonymous]

PP above, if you're not invested in staying in the neighborhood, why care what a tiny number of Ward 6 "boundary cheaters" get up to? Sounds like you don't get that parents can't be forced to enroll their children in any particular public school, or to volunteer to try to improve the school. Sounds like you're better off focusing on your future life in the burbs than in looking back with such bitterness. -Signed Hill resident of 20 years with kids in DCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a gray area, especially if parents continue using the original address with DCPS. But if you own residential DC real estate that you don’t formally rent out, do what you want when registering in boundary. Just make sure that you pick up mail at the property you use for school residency regularly. In our experience, things will work out if you cover your bases on the residency docs and mail collection fronts. Asking permission from DCPS is the last thing you want to do, OP. Opening that can of worms would be naive and dumb.

Translation: If you commit residency fraud, don’t tell anyone and cover your tracks.

Same advice that criminals follow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP above, if you're not invested in staying in the neighborhood, why care what a tiny number of Ward 6 "boundary cheaters" get up to? Sounds like you don't get that parents can't be forced to enroll their children in any particular public school, or to volunteer to try to improve the school. Sounds like you're better off focusing on your future life in the burbs than in looking back with such bitterness. -Signed Hill resident of 20 years with kids in DCPS

I'm invested in staying in the neighborhood, I just can't because our school sucks and we can't get into another one. I'm not trying to "force" anyone to send their kids to a different school.

It's just interesting that people claim they like boundary cheaters because it helps them stay in the neighborhood, but obviously you don't care if I stay in the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP above, if you're not invested in staying in the neighborhood, why care what a tiny number of Ward 6 "boundary cheaters" get up to? Sounds like you don't get that parents can't be forced to enroll their children in any particular public school, or to volunteer to try to improve the school. Sounds like you're better off focusing on your future life in the burbs than in looking back with such bitterness. -Signed Hill resident of 20 years with kids in DCPS

I'm invested in staying in the neighborhood, I just can't because our school sucks and we can't get into another one. I'm not trying to "force" anyone to send their kids to a different school.

It's just interesting that people claim they like boundary cheaters because it helps them stay in the neighborhood, but obviously you don't care if I stay in the neighborhood.

Also guess what, I'm going to be bitter because moving means giving up a low mortgage rate and either renting or buying at 8%. So the boundary cheaters who use their wealth to get around this can go **** * ****.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We know a couple families at Brent in the upper grades who are probably boundary cheaters.They knock themselves out to keep up multiple row houses within half a mile of campus and to help the PTA. They didn’t take scarce ECE spots. I’ve never heard chatter about their residency situation. It’s not interesting to those of us who’ve been in the neighborhood for eons. We’d rather have them stick around than move to VA. Eyebrows may be raised in the part of relative newcomers to CH but the old guard doesn’t mind.

I've lived in CH for 13 years, I don't know if that makes me old guard or newcomer, but my own experience with schools and the lottery on the Hill makes me extremely resentful of this behavior. We ARE looking to move to the suburbs, in large part because of schools and the difficulty of getting into a decent elementary via lottery.

If you don't happen to own a second property on the Hill IB for a better school, and you strike out with the lottery, you are stuck with you IB. If on top of that, there are IB families who care about education and are involved with their school, but do this for LT/Brent which they get into by lying about their residence in forms, their refusal to actually attend and invest in their IB makes it harder to improve the IB.

Also, the defensive but hostile stance on this thread from boundary cheaters is deeply unpleasant and makes me like these neighbors even less.

Don't worry, I'm sure the feeling is mutual. Bye, I guess. Enjoy the dysfunctional education system you've arranged for yourselves here.

'

I really hate the word and the notion that some parents are required to "invest" in a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truth is, nobody is paying attention. There are lots of people who live in Maryland enrolled in DC schools. At least you're a DC taxpayer.

I live by many DC Public schools. Duke, Hyde etc..Most parents/caregivers show up to pick up students with Maryland or Virginia tags on their cars.

D.C. Finds That Almost A Quarter Of Students At Acclaimed Public Arts School Are Attending Illegally: https://wamu.org/story/18/05/11/d-c-finds-almost-quarter-students-acclaimed-public-arts-school-attending-illegally/

Why are Maryland, Virginia students in D.C. schools? Council to hold hearing on illegal enrollments.

Although many of these stories are from years ago, the abuse continues.

Same near our schools (Whittier/Wells/Coolidge). Lots of Maryland tags in particular but I also see VA, which is especially confusing because it’s kind of a haul from VA. I always wondered about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a gray area, especially if parents continue using the original address with DCPS. But if you own residential DC real estate that you don’t formally rent out, do what you want when registering in boundary. Just make sure that you pick up mail at the property you use for school residency regularly. In our experience, things will work out if you cover your bases on the residency docs and mail collection fronts. Asking permission from DCPS is the last thing you want to do, OP. Opening that can of worms would be naive and dumb.

Translation: If you commit residency fraud, don’t tell anyone and cover your tracks.

Same advice that criminals follow.

So get those boundary cheating criminals arrested then. Report them! Lobby for them to be busted, fine, jailed.

So nobody have anything better to worry about? These parents own these properties so they pick up mail at them if they wish. For all you know, they lived in the properties whose addresses they use for enrollment at the time of enrollment. Yawn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We know a couple families at Brent in the upper grades who are probably boundary cheaters.They knock themselves out to keep up multiple row houses within half a mile of campus and to help the PTA. They didn’t take scarce ECE spots. I’ve never heard chatter about their residency situation. It’s not interesting to those of us who’ve been in the neighborhood for eons. We’d rather have them stick around than move to VA. Eyebrows may be raised in the part of relative newcomers to CH but the old guard doesn’t mind.

I've lived in CH for 13 years, I don't know if that makes me old guard or newcomer, but my own experience with schools and the lottery on the Hill makes me extremely resentful of this behavior. We ARE looking to move to the suburbs, in large part because of schools and the difficulty of getting into a decent elementary via lottery.

If you don't happen to own a second property on the Hill IB for a better school, and you strike out with the lottery, you are stuck with you IB. If on top of that, there are IB families who care about education and are involved with their school, but do this for LT/Brent which they get into by lying about their residence in forms, their refusal to actually attend and invest in their IB makes it harder to improve the IB.

Also, the defensive but hostile stance on this thread from boundary cheaters is deeply unpleasant and makes me like these neighbors even less.

Don't worry, I'm sure the feeling is mutual. Bye, I guess. Enjoy the dysfunctional education system you've arranged for yourselves here.

'

I really hate the word and the notion that some parents are required to "invest" in a school.

Same here. We're so burned out from "investing" in our IB DCPS elementary school, which offers far more favorable demographics than academics, that we've gone with a MS where we're under no pressure to invest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a gray area, especially if parents continue using the original address with DCPS. But if you own residential DC real estate that you don’t formally rent out, do what you want when registering in boundary. Just make sure that you pick up mail at the property you use for school residency regularly. In our experience, things will work out if you cover your bases on the residency docs and mail collection fronts. Asking permission from DCPS is the last thing you want to do, OP. Opening that can of worms would be naive and dumb.

Translation: If you commit residency fraud, don’t tell anyone and cover your tracks.

Same advice that criminals follow.

Who's committing RESIDENCY FRAUD when they live in the District and pay their DC taxes. Nobody. Go away.

[Anonymous]

Pp who’s moving after 13 years, why didn’t you plan ahead by buying or renting in boundary for a viable elementary school, at least for the period when you were going to enroll? Nobody can plan ahead for you. If you’re not going to get creative, pragmatic or resourceful about staying, you can’t stay w/out lottery luck. No brainer.