Using relative's address to get child into different school district in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't live in the same county, but am curious, is there no formal/legal way to request a transfer (within the same county) to the school you want your child to attend? I live Loudoun county (VA) where there's a formal process called "special permission" -- in a nutshell you can request a transfer to other schools within the county that have space. I've known lots and lots of families that have sent kids at every age (elem/middle/high) to different schools using this process. You do have to provide transportation but otherwise it's a really nice option.

Yes, MCPS has this process, but few schools have space, so it is unlikely to be approved.

[Anonymous]

You could apply for a cosa if your family members are providing childcare. You will have to claim a hardship.

Without a cosa, you can certainly lie. I know several families between my kid’s schools and where I teach that have done this. On the teacher end, I have seen PPWs make home visits when residency fraud is suspected. So it can happen. Your kids would be immediately transferred to their homeschool if you are caught. And it does send them the message that rules don’t apply to them. Good luck with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t live in DMV anymore but we moved this year within our town but out of bounds for our prior elementary school. It turned out the district assumed we wanted to stick with our existing school, but we could have petitioned in to our neighborhood school. They even have a process for petitioning in from a neighboring town (but that’s more complicated from a tax perspective). I’d be surprised if there’s not a way to request a different school in your district.

MCPS is segregated by income and they want to prevent it from being completely segregated by race. If they did what your district does, all of the white kids would be in the W schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who does it. She has 2 kids assigned to an Elem in east county but drives them to a school in Rockville every day. I think it’s wrong but she’s been getting away with it for 5 years now.

Seems like a lot of effort for...Rockville

[Anonymous]

you will be sued

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/district-ag-sues-six-more-maryland-parents-over-residency-fraud/2019/06/06/f831a760-887d-11e9-a870-b9c411dc4312_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pupil personnel worker may do a home visit if they can't verify residency.

I have never heard of this happening.

I have. It happened to my son's friend actually. Their case was a little bit fuzzier, in that the parents were renting from the grandparents but had not given up the primary home. MCPS made the child switch schools mid-year back to the "home" address even though they were fully living in bounds.

It was a wild case, and really disruptive, but it absolutely happens. Someone just has to get a bee in their bonnet and make a fuss about your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't live in the same county, but am curious, is there no formal/legal way to request a transfer (within the same county) to the school you want your child to attend? I live Loudoun county (VA) where there's a formal process called "special permission" -- in a nutshell you can request a transfer to other schools within the county that have space. I've known lots and lots of families that have sent kids at every age (elem/middle/high) to different schools using this process. You do have to provide transportation but otherwise it's a really nice option.

Yes, MCPS has this process, but few schools have space, so it is unlikely to be approved.

It’s called COSA (change of school assignment). It’s possible that a principal at an overcrowded elementary school might take pity on you and agree to a COSA if the relative at the address that’s inbounds is providing childcare for you. Even if you’re not approved the first time, you can appeal. I know families that used a COSA to send their kids to a Blue Ribbon school that was enrolled at 150% capacity. There’s no guarantee you’ll get approved, but you don’t have to lie about your address if you have a legitimate need for your child to attend a school near a relative.

[Anonymous]

I dunno. My DD's friend does this for our middle school. We live in the DCC; they live 25 minutes away.

If their school weren't overcrowded (we are talking 1300 kids in a school for 700), maybe I wouldn't care.

Suffice to say I don't think MCPS actually polices this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dunno. My DD's friend does this for our middle school. We live in the DCC; they live 25 minutes away.

If their school weren't overcrowded (we are talking 1300 kids in a school for 700), maybe I wouldn't care.

Suffice to say I don't think MCPS actually polices this?

There are no schools in MCPS that match this description.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you will be sued

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/district-ag-sues-six-more-maryland-parents-over-residency-fraud/2019/06/06/f831a760-887d-11e9-a870-b9c411dc4312_story.html

This is DCPS suing MD parents using DC schools from out of state, not MCPS schools

[Anonymous]

Kids talk. Adults hear. In 2 cases I know of, kids had to move mid year.

[Anonymous]

I work for MCPS and a few years ago the principal asked us to report any kids that we suspected lived out of bounds or had moved out of bounds. The school was in a popular cluster and was very over crowded.

[Anonymous]

I live in NY suburbs, and this just happened to a friend of mine. She and her kids moved in with her fiance a couple of towns over, but she didn't want to move her kids in the middle of the year. Someone (a staff member, I think) turned them in. The school district had people follow them home after school and at the house at 7 AM seeing that they left from there in the morning.

We are not a rich district, in fact the opposite, the irony is she was putting off sending her kids to a much better school. Apparently, every time they get a tip, they follow up with this investigation protocol.

She was so embarrassed when they called her into school and they caught her in a lie. Poor thing. She's a former heroin addict who has COMPLETELY turned her life around. Anyway her kids are thriving now and that's what matters.

[Anonymous]

Listen, you won’t get arrested. But someone will find out and snitch cause that’s how this area is. They think if they pay for the school, you shouldn’t get to go there and or pay the same housing prices. I know you think nobody will know. But eventually somebody will and they will tell the school and your child will get kicked out. I am a teacher and this happens more often than you would think, especially in a more desirable pyramid. We get kids mid year and into Q4 if the school in the nearby neighborhood finds out they aren’t actually residents. They remove them and send them to us. That’s realistically the biggest risk you take. Personally, I wouldn’t want it always hanging over my head or for my kid to deal with a sudden switch when it happened. Consider also if this school feeds to a different middle and high school, your kid might squeak by in elementary and then face down the older years with new kids they don’t know if you’re ratted on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't Andrea Zuckerman do this in Beverly Hills 90210?

Yes fck the system.