Suspected lottery scammer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's perfectly fine to call attention this. That's the whole purpose of transparency -- to reduce corruption.

Hmmm. Anonymous postings and unverifiable accusations. How is this transparent?

I'm one of those people who has been the subject of all kinds of prejudice. "OOB-looking", "must be a nanny", "on financial aid", etc. (Never a Marylander. Perish the thought.) Let's try not to jump to conclusions or judge others. Don't feed the rumor mill lest you be ground under the wheel one day.

That's the problem with being hyper-sensitive: you can never shake the feeling that everyone's out to get you.

Try to put things in perspective. The letter of the law says you are entitled to an in-boundary spot beginning in kindergarten. Other than that, my understanding is the city has no obligation to even hold a lottery. It's a crazy system for pretty much all of us.

Yes, but we *do* have a lottery. That's the system we--as DC citizens--have decided to determine who gets the available spot. So I'm not quite sure I understand what your point is. Are you really so morally obtuse as to not understand why cheating is frowned upon.

"Stop cheating!"

"Hey! What are you gonna do? It's a *crazy* system for all of us!"

Pathetic.

[Anonymous]

PP, why so.....vicious?

You really should wipe the spittle from the corners of your mouth. It's unbecoming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, why so.....vicious?

You really should wipe the spittle from the corners of your mouth. It's unbecoming.

Was that vicious? Heck, you and your SO must communicate in nothing but a series of whispers and significant touches. Do you break down in tears every time you have to say something in a work meeting?

[Anonymous]

@13:44 - (1) You really think DCPS is going to call back and provide a report? (2) You know families that hit the jackpot with coveted OOB slots for 5 different kids at 5 different schools? Why are you wasting time here? You should go with them to a casino and put all your money wherever they tell youto - they're the luckiest two families in the world, and you know BOTH of them! (3) It's an anonymous board, gor cryin' out loud - if someone is "hurt" by a posting "calling their family into question", well, I'm not sure what to do, except buy them lots of bubble wrap for the real world. (4) I can't say it any better than 16:24 - get over yourself, you ridiculous drama queen. (I may use that in other situations, too.)

[Anonymous]

Based purely on observing numerous Maryland tags at our child's school each day, I definitely suspect there are plenty of our DC tax dollars being spent on educating children who live in Maryland. I have no interest in running a sting operation to "out" the interlopers...but I do expect DCPS to do some policing to protect our tax contributions. The lottery lines have grown significantly over the last couple of years. Couple that with a shaky economy and I guarantee there are plenty of parents out there who will happily turn people in.

[Anonymous]

there was a discussion on the non-DC resident's at DC schools about a year ago. It was clear that many people knew someone who was commiting fraud - but no one had the balls to step up and stop them from stealing from our children.

If you want to talk abt waiting for superman - and resources that we could have - everyone who knows someone who is commiting fraud could be a superman for a child in the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's the problem with being hyper-sensitive: you can never shake the feeling that everyone's out to get you.

Try to put things in perspective. The letter of the law says you are entitled to an in-boundary spot beginning in kindergarten. Other than that, my understanding is the city has no obligation to even hold a lottery. It's a crazy system for pretty much all of us.

Yes, but we *do* have a lottery. That's the system we--as DC citizens--have decided to determine who gets the available spot. So I'm not quite sure I understand what your point is. Are you really so morally obtuse as to not understand why cheating is frowned upon.

"Stop cheating!"

"Hey! What are you gonna do? It's a *crazy* system for all of us!"

Pathetic.

Hyper-sensitive and obtuse? Interesting use of adjectives. Name-calling (also frowned upon) aside, how exactly do "we" determine who gets a spot OOB or pre-k? I heard only the chancellor has said privilege.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What would have been really nice is if your DW had just offered to buy the woman's coffee.

Not the PP, and it wasn't up to the DW to offer to buy the woman's coffee just to keep her from BEING A THIEF.

If you're dependent upon the kindness of strangers just to keep you inside the law, you actually deserve to be in jail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes it is embarrassing to be a member of this community. Should we form a mob? Would that satisfy you all? If this is what it's come to, checking other people's numbers and breathlessly reporting them to an anonymous board, then wow. "Disqualified" outright? No education for you!

But, if this snooping of yours bothers you, contact DCPS, and who knows, perhaps it is a scam. Perhaps it is not. But before getting people up in arms, why not check into it FIRST, then if there is something fishy reporting it?

And how would you suggest doing this?

Um. Duh. Doing exactly what ended up happening - calling DCPS when it looked like something was fishy - not posting it on here riling up the masses. Because there ARE possibilities of why this might be true. (foster families, pending adoptions, etc - and don't scoff - I actually in real life know two examples of where this would be a possible scenario). So, why not look into it first (hello, DCPS - I'm not sure I understand this, can you clarify what I am seeing here?) rather than posting on this board SCAMMER ALERT! CHEATER! DISQUALIFY! Because, if you are a person who is in one of the (admittedly rare/unlikely) scenarios, perhaps it would be extremely hurtful to read a thread calling your family situation into question. Or, you know, maybe it was just a mistake by someone who doesn't speak english, or who might be doing the best they can but has a lower IQ or other personal, private reasons for not understanding.

It makes me think of people who march up to seemingly able bodied people who park in handicapped spots and berate them for abuse - only to have the person defend their real, but not always visible disabilty. Or the person who makes an honest mistake only to be loudly and publicly called on it, when a simple, are you sure that's what you meant to do would suffice. It's something called discretion. Or class. Or good upbringing.

I think it's totally awesome that you personally know two examples where a single family has five sibling preferences at *five* different schools. I had a friend who once decided to watch television on his roof. But if I look across the alley at my neighbor's house and see some guys I don't know on the roof taking a TV and dining room chairs out of the roof hatch, I'm going to ask them WTF they're doing. And if (as in the case of the DCPS lottery) I can't ask them directly, you can be damned sure I'm going to raise a stink about it. What exactly is the downside?

Your comparisons are laughably inapt. No one is yelling at a diabled person in a parking lot. They're asking for advice on a public forum about an anonymous tracking number in a public lottery. Get over yourself, you ridiculous drama queen.

lol.

[Anonymous]

A childless couple at my church are adopting, from overseas, a sibling group that are orphans - 5 children under ten. We have been praying for them since hearing the news - can you imagine opening your home to 5 children? Now I am praying this is them, as getting them all into one school is probably important for the kids, who are blessed to be able to stay together as a family, but will uprooted from all they have known. For good, of course, and the prayers of the community will strengthen them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A childless couple at my church are adopting, from overseas, a sibling group that are orphans - 5 children under ten. We have been praying for them since hearing the news - can you imagine opening your home to 5 children? Now I am praying this is them, as getting them all into one school is probably important for the kids, who are blessed to be able to stay together as a family, but will uprooted from all they have known. For good, of course, and the prayers of the community will strengthen them.

this is not them, this is a family who claims they currently have 5 kids in 5 different OOB schools.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I would have offered to buy the woman's coffee not to enable her, but to shine the light on her bad behavior. Catching flies with honey is still catching flies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's the problem with being hyper-sensitive: you can never shake the feeling that everyone's out to get you.

Try to put things in perspective. The letter of the law says you are entitled to an in-boundary spot beginning in kindergarten. Other than that, my understanding is the city has no obligation to even hold a lottery. It's a crazy system for pretty much all of us.

Yes, but we *do* have a lottery. That's the system we--as DC citizens--have decided to determine who gets the available spot. So I'm not quite sure I understand what your point is. Are you really so morally obtuse as to not understand why cheating is frowned upon.

"Stop cheating!"

"Hey! What are you gonna do? It's a *crazy* system for all of us!"

Pathetic.

Hyper-sensitive and obtuse? Interesting use of adjectives. Name-calling (also frowned upon) aside, how exactly do "we" determine who gets a spot OOB or pre-k? I heard only the chancellor has said privilege.

PP here: just to clarify, there's this thing called "the DCPS lottery". In fact, it's the subject of this very thread. Now, this "lottery" is a impartial mechanism for choosing who gets a spot OOB or pre-s / pre-k. Understand now?

I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt here that you don't understand what this lottery thing is, or what purpose it serves. I certainly wouldn't be uncharitable enough to assume you're too morally obtuse to understand why cheating is wrong here as well.

[Anonymous]

I realize this is a slightly different scheme, but, if the above were true, why do I personally know so many children who attend DCPSs where *Grandma* lives? Not where the kid lives and sleeps, but where Grandma has a house.

well, when i enrolled my kid in a DCPS last year, i had to PROVE my residency with a drivers' license and/or a paystub. they take this stuff seriously.

if a kid is using grandma's address, grandma has to be the legal guardian. that's a big lie to keep going. even if grandma is lying, who cares? grandma is paying the same property taxes (income and sales) that you are paying to live in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I realize this is a slightly different scheme, but, if the above were true, why do I personally know so many children who attend DCPSs where *Grandma* lives? Not where the kid lives and sleeps, but where Grandma has a house.

well, when i enrolled my kid in a DCPS last year, i had to PROVE my residency with a drivers' license and/or a paystub. they take this stuff seriously.

if a kid is using grandma's address, grandma has to be the legal guardian. that's a big lie to keep going. even if grandma is lying, who cares? grandma is paying the same property taxes (income and sales) that you are paying to live in DC.

I care. Grandma pays taxes and presumably her kids already took advantage of that and went to DC public schools when they were children. It doesn't give her a right to have her grandchildren who don't live with her educated. It's cheating and it's taking away resources from my child. My parents live in a great school district and it wouldn't occur to me in a million years to lie and enroll my DC in school there.