Do people get creative (e.g. lie) in order to get sibling preference?

[Anonymous]

Before the DCPS results and any of the charters came out, I joked about claiming an extended family member as my child's sibling so that she could get in to the highly sought after school that family member attends. Technically they are actually as genetically close as half siblings, but they are not siblings and do not share a parent or an address.

Now that I realize that in a lot of cases ONLY siblings get in through the lottery, I'm almost beginning to regret that we didn't! That said, it's patently unfair to everyone else and I would feel terrible if I had tried to buck the system. I just couldn't do it. But I wonder, there are so many siblings in all these lotteries, are they all genuine siblings? Or do others lie about who is related to who? I hope that there are some checks to prevent people from doing this.

[Anonymous]

Our charter has clarified the policy regarding who gets "sibling" preference. There are cases where they will grant it to a cousin - but there are specific requirements that need to be met.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Before the DCPS results and any of the charters came out, I joked about claiming an extended family member as my child's sibling so that she could get in to the highly sought after school that family member attends. Technically they are actually as genetically close as half siblings, but they are not siblings and do not share a parent or an address.

Now that I realize that in a lot of cases ONLY siblings get in through the lottery, I'm almost beginning to regret that we didn't! That said, it's patently unfair to everyone else and I would feel terrible if I had tried to buck the system. I just couldn't do it. But I wonder, there are so many siblings in all these lotteries, are they all genuine siblings? Or do others lie about who is related to who? I hope that there are some checks to prevent people from doing this.

What does as genetically close as half siblings mean? Is it the niece/nephew of you or dh's identical sibling? That's the only case I can think of.

[Anonymous]

sperm donors

[Anonymous]

last year this forum discussed a couple lottery entrants that had a sibling at every school they applied to. Possible, I suppose, to have 6 siblings at 6 different schools. I believe someone reported the number to DCPS. This year, the lottery form has a new feature, fill in the name of the sibling if you are claiming preference.

[Anonymous]

How can your kid be as close as half brothers w/o actually being so. I HATE PEOPLE LIKE YOU STAY OUT THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

[Anonymous]

People lie about things all the time in these school lotteries.
Address is the main thing. Sometimes there are checks, sometimes there aren't. Sometimes they use grandma's address legitimately, sometimes not.

What's going to happen when this child is in school and they talk about families and she doesn't include your child as her sister? And then it is casually mentioned, "Oh, Child A doesn't think Child B is her sister. Isn't that funny?" and then it's investigated and then child B is kicked out of that school.

It's awful that quality schooling has become dependent on luck and lotteries, but that's what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before the DCPS results and any of the charters came out, I joked about claiming an extended family member as my child's sibling so that she could get in to the highly sought after school that family member attends. Technically they are actually as genetically close as half siblings, but they are not siblings and do not share a parent or an address.

Now that I realize that in a lot of cases ONLY siblings get in through the lottery, I'm almost beginning to regret that we didn't! That said, it's patently unfair to everyone else and I would feel terrible if I had tried to buck the system. I just couldn't do it. But I wonder, there are so many siblings in all these lotteries, are they all genuine siblings? Or do others lie about who is related to who? I hope that there are some checks to prevent people from doing this.

What does as genetically close as half siblings mean? Is it the niece/nephew of you or dh's identical sibling? That's the only case I can think of.

Yes. Though it's not really relevant to the question, I don't want to derail any discussion by focussing on that. Other possible family situations with the same issue include surrogacy or adoption within the family. So yeah, it's unusual but not unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our charter has clarified the policy regarding who gets "sibling" preference. There are cases where they will grant it to a cousin - but there are specific requirements that need to be met.

Can you share which school that is? And/or the criteria other than cousin? Presumably they have to live at the same address or something similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can your kid be as close as half brothers w/o actually being so. I HATE PEOPLE LIKE YOU STAY OUT THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Yeah, this is why I don't like posting here. Why are people so rude? It's a legitimate question (and there are several ways that my kid can be as close as "half brothers" as I have outlined).

I want to know if anyone knows of widespread fraud in getting access to sibling lotteries. Of course it's likely to be all hearsay, but I'm still interested if anyone actually has thoughts on THAT topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can your kid be as close as half brothers w/o actually being so. I HATE PEOPLE LIKE YOU STAY OUT THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Somebody forgot her meds today.

[Anonymous]

What does as genetically close as half siblings mean? Is it the niece/nephew of you or dh's identical sibling? That's the only case I can think of.

Yes. Though it's not really relevant to the question, I don't want to derail any discussion by focussing on that. Other possible family situations with the same issue include surrogacy or adoption within the family. So yeah, it's unusual but not unique.

To answer your question, OP, I imagine people lie about it, but unlike addresses, this is a lie that would be very tough to maintain, and I can't imagine charters being forgiving when it's found out. Ours certainly wouldn't.

Regarding the above, kids aren't offered sibling preferences because of a genetic relationship - it's a logistical issue for parents, nothing more. So if you nephew doesn't live with you, there's simply no reason a close genetic relationship should matter.

Plus, you seem to believe that since your relative, through unusual circumstances, shares more genes with your kids than the normal cousin relationship, he or she should receive some special dispensation? That's - odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can your kid be as close as half brothers w/o actually being so. I HATE PEOPLE LIKE YOU STAY OUT THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Yeah, this is why I don't like posting here. Why are people so rude? It's a legitimate question (and there are several ways that my kid can be as close as "half brothers" as I have outlined).

I want to know if anyone knows of widespread fraud in getting access to sibling lotteries. Of course it's likely to be all hearsay, but I'm still interested if anyone actually has thoughts on THAT topic.

Sperm donors. SH-Yeah, right. YOU ARE SUCH A LIAR. YOU ARE LOOKING FOR WAYS TO LIE, YOU SAID SO IN YOUR OPENING QUESTION, LIAR!

[Anonymous]

Liar, liar pants on fire.

[Anonymous]

you have to show a birth certificate to enroll the child, so while you could certainly lie to win at the lottery, you wouldn't be able to lie to enroll your kid.