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.

This really makes me angry. MD and VA parents that game the system to have kids attend DCPS makes me furious. It has been going on for decades.

I know of some of the games played in DC regarding IB etc. I'm not thrilled about it but I have much more sympathy if you are paying DC taxes vs those who reside in MD and VA and using a relatives address to send your kid to school in DC.

Superintendent of Education:

For the 2014, 2015 and 2016 school years, the city admitted 85 non-resident students to public and charter schools, but in 82 of those cases did not collect the full tuition they were required to pay prior to the start of the school year. Instead, payment plans were extended to a majority of the students, even though they were not asked to prove that they had a comparable school option where they lived or were facing financial problems that prevented them from paying the tuition in full.

Of the 79 non-resident students that were on payment plans, 51 were allowed to remain in their D.C. school despite having defaulted on what they owed. The amount of uncollected tuition over the three-year period amounted to $169,127.
OSSE failed to report 46 of 67 of the residency fraud cases it uncovered to the city’s attorney general, which prosecutes the cases, or to the city’s Board of Ethics and Government Accountability when they involved the children of city employees. It also did not notify D.C. Public Schools and the charter school system, “which limited the school systems’ ability to proactively identify similar cases.”

In 32 of the 46 fraud cases, OSSE had no settlement agreements with the families found to have violated the law. In the 14 cases for which it did, it only collected $73,090 of the $454,727 in unpaid tuition it was owed. And when that tuition wasn’t paid, OSSE didn’t take steps to let schools know so they could discontinue the students’ enrollment.

Due to a number of shortcomings within OSSE, the city is owed at least $550,764 in unpaid tuition by non-residents. The inspector general’s audit also found that compared to school systems in surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia, “District residency documentation requirements were less stringent than those in neighboring school districts.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DC, after year of complaints about out of state students, finally cracked down in roughly 2015-2016.

A Maryland couple who fraudulently enrolled three children in top D.C. public schools for a decade must pay the city more than $500,000 in fines, Attorney General Karl Racine announced Thursday.
The parents, both D.C. police officers, lived at various locations in Maryland and Virginia while their children attended D.C. schools between 2003 and 2013, according to the attorney general’s office. The husband owned a home in Northeast that he rented to tenants, using that address to enroll the couple’s children in some of the city’s most coveted public schools — a violation of city law.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/md-family-that-sent-kids-to-dc-public-schools-must-pay-more-than-500000-fine/2016/07/28/b7f3656c-54eb-11e6-b7de-dfe509430c39_story.html

Seems like you can't claim an address that you rent out as your primary residence. As quoted, a violation of city laws.

The larger problem is that DC looked into this once and tried to make a statement with fines. The problem is there is no enforcement now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DC, after year of complaints about out of state students, finally cracked down in roughly 2015-2016.

A Maryland couple who fraudulently enrolled three children in top D.C. public schools for a decade must pay the city more than $500,000 in fines, Attorney General Karl Racine announced Thursday.
The parents, both D.C. police officers, lived at various locations in Maryland and Virginia while their children attended D.C. schools between 2003 and 2013, according to the attorney general’s office. The husband owned a home in Northeast that he rented to tenants, using that address to enroll the couple’s children in some of the city’s most coveted public schools — a violation of city law.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/md-family-that-sent-kids-to-dc-public-schools-must-pay-more-than-500000-fine/2016/07/28/b7f3656c-54eb-11e6-b7de-dfe509430c39_story.html

Seems like you can't claim an address that you rent out as your primary residence. As quoted, a violation of city laws.

The larger problem is that DC looked into this once and tried to make a statement with fines. The problem is there is no enforcement now.

Wow. Some posters on this thread could be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. I wonder if the AG’s office is reading this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DC, after year of complaints about out of state students, finally cracked down in roughly 2015-2016.

A Maryland couple who fraudulently enrolled three children in top D.C. public schools for a decade must pay the city more than $500,000 in fines, Attorney General Karl Racine announced Thursday.
The parents, both D.C. police officers, lived at various locations in Maryland and Virginia while their children attended D.C. schools between 2003 and 2013, according to the attorney general’s office. The husband owned a home in Northeast that he rented to tenants, using that address to enroll the couple’s children in some of the city’s most coveted public schools — a violation of city law.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/md-family-that-sent-kids-to-dc-public-schools-must-pay-more-than-500000-fine/2016/07/28/b7f3656c-54eb-11e6-b7de-dfe509430c39_story.html

Seems like you can't claim an address that you rent out as your primary residence. As quoted, a violation of city laws.

The larger problem is that DC looked into this once and tried to make a statement with fines. The problem is there is no enforcement now.

Wow. Some posters on this thread could be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. I wonder if the AG’s office is reading this?

That was residency fraud. They lived in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, so it’s fraud and perjury, and?

Non issue, peccadillo, unimportant.

Find a cause worth pursuing.

A Maryland couple who fraudulently enrolled three children in top D.C. public schools for a decade must pay the city more than $500,000 in fines, Attorney General Karl Racine announced Thursday.
The parents, both D.C. police officers, lived at various locations in Maryland and Virginia while their children attended D.C. schools between 2003 and 2013, according to the attorney general’s office. The husband owned a home in Northeast that he rented to tenants, using that address to enroll the couple’s children in some of the city’s most coveted public schools — a violation of city law.

Many more parents of the DCPS are demanding accountability of the DC government for students that live in VA and MD that attend DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I didn't know anything about DC public schools when I bought my home, before I was married and well before having kids. By the time I knew, moving wasn't a straightforward option -- I'm in a condo that hasn't appreciated much, while housing all around us has gone through the roof. My partner didn't want to move out of the city and take on a long commute.

Among the things I didn't understand about DC public schools when I bought my home? The fact that it is a freaking game of "getting creative and resourceful" to get your kids into good schools, that many schools (including ours) are in boundaries full of expensive homes but no one IB wants to send their kids to them, that it's possible to strike out on the lottery 4x in a row, and so on.

Sorry for not having a crystal ball, and not researching city schools in 2013 as an unmarried childless person looking to make a smart financial decision, I guess. You're all much better and smarter than me. Happy?

[Anonymous]

Your story is a common one. DC public schools are screwed up in ways that create winners and losers in a way the better suburban school systems in the Metro area don't. If you're not well off, can't afford valuable real estate and lack lottery luck, you can get pushed out. This isn't the fault of fellow parents. Politicians and ed leaders are to blame. The silver lining is that by leaving, you'll do better on schools than those who stay in the DC public school system, even if they're well off. Even the best DC options--JKLM, Brent, Maury, Deal, J-R, Walls, the Latins, BASIS, DCI etc.--aren't nearly as good overall as top public schools in MoCo, Arlington and Fairfax. Most families who leave for the burbs are happy they did. Good to go before your kids are middle school age. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I'm a social worker, and the number of MD and VA kids who are clear residence cheaters at our ES seems to have gone down over the last decade. When I first started there were tons of these kids, but as schools have gotten more crowded the numbers have gone down.

We still have plenty of kids who have a parent that lives in DC (even if the kid doesn't really live with them), or their housing situation is extremely unstable and they bounce around to family members inside and outside of DC--these kids are allowed to stay at the school for continuity of education.

I'm not saying it isn't a problem, but, I don't think there is the same entitlement for going to DC schools in the younger generation of "native" Washingtonian families who don't actually live in the city anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a social worker, and the number of MD and VA kids who are clear residence cheaters at our ES seems to have gone down over the last decade. When I first started there were tons of these kids, but as schools have gotten more crowded the numbers have gone down.

We still have plenty of kids who have a parent that lives in DC (even if the kid doesn't really live with them), or their housing situation is extremely unstable and they bounce around to family members inside and outside of DC--these kids are allowed to stay at the school for continuity of education.

I'm not saying it isn't a problem, but, I don't think there is the same entitlement for going to DC schools in the younger generation of "native" Washingtonian families who don't actually live in the city anymore.

I walked past a charter this AM and no joke, every car dropping off had MD plates. I think at some charters that are on commuting routes, MD kids may outnumber DC kids. That’s a LOT of money charters are stealing from DC because of course charters probably encourage this. I’d like to see DC crack down - not on individual parents but on the charters, and also consider creative solutions like a reciprocal agreement with PG county for it to reimburse money for kids who attend DC charters. Let’s really make it “choice” but with accountability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DC, after year of complaints about out of state students, finally cracked down in roughly 2015-2016.

A Maryland couple who fraudulently enrolled three children in top D.C. public schools for a decade must pay the city more than $500,000 in fines, Attorney General Karl Racine announced Thursday.
The parents, both D.C. police officers, lived at various locations in Maryland and Virginia while their children attended D.C. schools between 2003 and 2013, according to the attorney general’s office. The husband owned a home in Northeast that he rented to tenants, using that address to enroll the couple’s children in some of the city’s most coveted public schools — a violation of city law.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/md-family-that-sent-kids-to-dc-public-schools-must-pay-more-than-500000-fine/2016/07/28/b7f3656c-54eb-11e6-b7de-dfe509430c39_story.html

Seems like you can't claim an address that you rent out as your primary residence. As quoted, a violation of city laws.

The larger problem is that DC looked into this once and tried to make a statement with fines. The problem is there is no enforcement now.

Wow. Some posters on this thread could be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. I wonder if the AG’s office is reading this?

That was residency fraud. They lived in Maryland.

+1. Posters are still conflating residency and boundary. They can and do come after residency fraud. They do not come after boundary fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DC, after year of complaints about out of state students, finally cracked down in roughly 2015-2016.

A Maryland couple who fraudulently enrolled three children in top D.C. public schools for a decade must pay the city more than $500,000 in fines, Attorney General Karl Racine announced Thursday.
The parents, both D.C. police officers, lived at various locations in Maryland and Virginia while their children attended D.C. schools between 2003 and 2013, according to the attorney general’s office. The husband owned a home in Northeast that he rented to tenants, using that address to enroll the couple’s children in some of the city’s most coveted public schools — a violation of city law.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/md-family-that-sent-kids-to-dc-public-schools-must-pay-more-than-500000-fine/2016/07/28/b7f3656c-54eb-11e6-b7de-dfe509430c39_story.html

Seems like you can't claim an address that you rent out as your primary residence. As quoted, a violation of city laws.

The larger problem is that DC looked into this once and tried to make a statement with fines. The problem is there is no enforcement now.

Wow. Some posters on this thread could be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. I wonder if the AG’s office is reading this?

That was residency fraud. They lived in Maryland.

+1. Posters are still conflating residency and boundary. They can and do come after residency fraud. They do not come after boundary fraud.

You’re really missing the point. YES DC cares most about residency fraud. Which means that they will increasingly investigate it, including by using more sophisticated data approaches that identify students who do not appear to live at the OSSE provided address through matching up other addresses used by the parent in many other datasets (mail, subscriptions, court records, car registrations, etc.) Once they suspect you listed a fake address what do you think happens? They investigate you. Because you listed a fake address and they do not know if you live in DC or MD. Because again, to repeat, you listed a fake address. And this is the point where you decide whether to double down on your lie or confess that you lied on the form, the form that you signed and attested to its truthfulness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DC, after year of complaints about out of state students, finally cracked down in roughly 2015-2016.

A Maryland couple who fraudulently enrolled three children in top D.C. public schools for a decade must pay the city more than $500,000 in fines, Attorney General Karl Racine announced Thursday.
The parents, both D.C. police officers, lived at various locations in Maryland and Virginia while their children attended D.C. schools between 2003 and 2013, according to the attorney general’s office. The husband owned a home in Northeast that he rented to tenants, using that address to enroll the couple’s children in some of the city’s most coveted public schools — a violation of city law.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/md-family-that-sent-kids-to-dc-public-schools-must-pay-more-than-500000-fine/2016/07/28/b7f3656c-54eb-11e6-b7de-dfe509430c39_story.html

Seems like you can't claim an address that you rent out as your primary residence. As quoted, a violation of city laws.

The larger problem is that DC looked into this once and tried to make a statement with fines. The problem is there is no enforcement now.

Wow. Some posters on this thread could be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. I wonder if the AG’s office is reading this?

That was residency fraud. They lived in Maryland.

+1. Posters are still conflating residency and boundary. They can and do come after residency fraud. They do not come after boundary fraud.

You’re really missing the point. YES DC cares most about residency fraud. Which means that they will increasingly investigate it, including by using more sophisticated data approaches that identify students who do not appear to live at the OSSE provided address through matching up other addresses used by the parent in many other datasets (mail, subscriptions, court records, car registrations, etc.) Once they suspect you listed a fake address what do you think happens? They investigate you. Because you listed a fake address and they do not know if you live in DC or MD. Because again, to repeat, you listed a fake address. And this is the point where you decide whether to double down on your lie or confess that you lied on the form, the form that you signed and attested to its truthfulness.

You are missing the point. There is no consequence for this for boundary fraud, except possibly losing your feeder pattern. There is a consequence for residency fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a social worker, and the number of MD and VA kids who are clear residence cheaters at our ES seems to have gone down over the last decade. When I first started there were tons of these kids, but as schools have gotten more crowded the numbers have gone down.

We still have plenty of kids who have a parent that lives in DC (even if the kid doesn't really live with them), or their housing situation is extremely unstable and they bounce around to family members inside and outside of DC--these kids are allowed to stay at the school for continuity of education.

I'm not saying it isn't a problem, but, I don't think there is the same entitlement for going to DC schools in the younger generation of "native" Washingtonian families who don't actually live in the city anymore.

I walked past a charter this AM and no joke, every car dropping off had MD plates. I think at some charters that are on commuting routes, MD kids may outnumber DC kids. That’s a LOT of money charters are stealing from DC because of course charters probably encourage this. I’d like to see DC crack down - not on individual parents but on the charters, and also consider creative solutions like a reciprocal agreement with PG county for it to reimburse money for kids who attend DC charters. Let’s really make it “choice” but with accountability.

There are tons of Maryland residency cheaters at Stuart Hobson. The streets around Stuart Hobson are littered with Maryland tags at pickup and dropoff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are tons of Maryland residency cheaters at Stuart Hobson. The streets around Stuart Hobson are littered with Maryland tags at pickup and dropoff.

Shepherd has an attendance boundary that is adjacent to Maryland on two sides. It's a sea of MD plates at pickup and dropoff, and several of my kid's classmates have openly talked about living in Silver Spring. That's the kind of fraud DCPS should be going after, rather than ppl here getting their knickers in a twist over which Cap Hill ES someone's going to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DC, after year of complaints about out of state students, finally cracked down in roughly 2015-2016.

A Maryland couple who fraudulently enrolled three children in top D.C. public schools for a decade must pay the city more than $500,000 in fines, Attorney General Karl Racine announced Thursday.
The parents, both D.C. police officers, lived at various locations in Maryland and Virginia while their children attended D.C. schools between 2003 and 2013, according to the attorney general’s office. The husband owned a home in Northeast that he rented to tenants, using that address to enroll the couple’s children in some of the city’s most coveted public schools — a violation of city law.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/md-family-that-sent-kids-to-dc-public-schools-must-pay-more-than-500000-fine/2016/07/28/b7f3656c-54eb-11e6-b7de-dfe509430c39_story.html

Seems like you can't claim an address that you rent out as your primary residence. As quoted, a violation of city laws.

The larger problem is that DC looked into this once and tried to make a statement with fines. The problem is there is no enforcement now.

Wow. Some posters on this thread could be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. I wonder if the AG’s office is reading this?

That was residency fraud. They lived in Maryland.

+1. Posters are still conflating residency and boundary. They can and do come after residency fraud. They do not come after boundary fraud.

You’re really missing the point. YES DC cares most about residency fraud. Which means that they will increasingly investigate it, including by using more sophisticated data approaches that identify students who do not appear to live at the OSSE provided address through matching up other addresses used by the parent in many other datasets (mail, subscriptions, court records, car registrations, etc.) Once they suspect you listed a fake address what do you think happens? They investigate you. Because you listed a fake address and they do not know if you live in DC or MD. Because again, to repeat, you listed a fake address. And this is the point where you decide whether to double down on your lie or confess that you lied on the form, the form that you signed and attested to its truthfulness.

You are missing the point. There is no consequence for this for boundary fraud, except possibly losing your feeder pattern. There is a consequence for residency fraud.

There is absolutely a consequence for putting a false address on the enrollment form.