WaPo takes deep dive into DCPS residency fraud

[Anonymous]

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/994956526040252416

Basic numbers:

570 students

304 DC residents
46 tuition paying non-residents

164 non-residents (no tuition)
56 inconclusive (no tuition)

Assuming most of the inconclusive are non-residents, you get:

53% DC residents
8% non-residents paying tuition
39% non-residents not paying tuition

What an absolute disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After Antwan, the council has finally figured out that this is an issue that voting taxpayers care about.

No, I don't think they have. They have figured out it is an issue that the Washington Post cares about, and Grosso is now making the right public statements, but there have been no substantive changes since all this broke.

Having OSSE triple its residency fraud staff from 1 to 3 (if this years budget is approved) is not a serious response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/994956526040252416

Basic numbers:

570 students

304 DC residents
46 tuition paying non-residents

164 non-residents (no tuition)
56 inconclusive (no tuition)

Assuming most of the inconclusive are non-residents, you get:

53% DC residents
8% non-residents paying tuition
39% non-residents not paying tuition

What an absolute disaster.

Bowser, taunting critics at the grand reopening of Ellington in August:

“Let ’em talk about how much it cost. You’ll see; it’s worth it.”

I think a lot more people are going to be talking about that now, dummy.

https://currentnewspapers.com/duke-ellington-school-unveils-flashy-pricey-new-campus/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After Antwan, the council has finally figured out that this is an issue that voting taxpayers care about.

Voting taxpayers have proven that they DON'T care about this issue. That's why nothing has been done about it.

[Anonymous]

We live next to Ellington. It's a line of MD-plated cars before school, after school, and during evening performances or post-rehearsals.

All the kids who actually live in DC take the bus and/or walk. I see them around the neighborhood and at the bus stops. The MD kids get dropped off and picked up in nice cars. The parents don't even bother to pull over and instead double-park and block the streets.

"Entitled" doesn't even begin to describe these folks. It's absurd.

[Anonymous]

WaPo reporter says Ellington staff/admins have been referred to DC inspector general for investigation into whether they were complicit in all this. DCPS has no authority to fire most Ellington employees so this is basically the next step.

[Anonymous]

The Mayor is going to be on the Kojo show today, Friday, May 11 at noon. I certainly hope Tom Sherwodd asks her about this (because I doubt Kojo will.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live next to Ellington. It's a line of MD-plated cars before school, after school, and during evening performances or post-rehearsals.

All the kids who actually live in DC take the bus and/or walk. I see them around the neighborhood and at the bus stops. The MD kids get dropped off and picked up in nice cars. The parents don't even bother to pull over and instead double-park and block the streets.

"Entitled" doesn't even begin to describe these folks. It's absurd.

Go to Jack Evans and ask him to take some steps. Make some proposals that are reasonable:
Jack - for the 164 students that are not residents, can DCPS freeze the students account / not issue transcripts until the issue is resolved?

When your child can not apply to college / transfer to your local school you approach the situation differently.

And BS on it is hurting the child - these kids are old enough to know what they are doing is wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live next to Ellington. It's a line of MD-plated cars before school, after school, and during evening performances or post-rehearsals.

All the kids who actually live in DC take the bus and/or walk. I see them around the neighborhood and at the bus stops. The MD kids get dropped off and picked up in nice cars. The parents don't even bother to pull over and instead double-park and block the streets.

"Entitled" doesn't even begin to describe these folks. It's absurd.

Go to Jack Evans and ask him to take some steps. Make some proposals that are reasonable:
Jack - for the 164 students that are not residents, can DCPS freeze the students account / not issue transcripts until the issue is resolved?

When your child can not apply to college / transfer to your local school you approach the situation differently.

And BS on it is hurting the child - these kids are old enough to know what they are doing is wrong.

+1000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live next to Ellington. It's a line of MD-plated cars before school, after school, and during evening performances or post-rehearsals.

All the kids who actually live in DC take the bus and/or walk. I see them around the neighborhood and at the bus stops. The MD kids get dropped off and picked up in nice cars. The parents don't even bother to pull over and instead double-park and block the streets.

"Entitled" doesn't even begin to describe these folks. It's absurd.

Go to Jack Evans and ask him to take some steps. Make some proposals that are reasonable:
Jack - for the 164 students that are not residents, can DCPS freeze the students account / not issue transcripts until the issue is resolved?

When your child can not apply to college / transfer to your local school you approach the situation differently.

And BS on it is hurting the child - these kids are old enough to know what they are doing is wrong.

OR - since the student allocation funding for the school is based on count - and the student count is wrong - how about cutting the budget for Ellington next year to what the DC resident count is

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/994956526040252416

Basic numbers:

570 students

304 DC residents
46 tuition paying non-residents

164 non-residents (no tuition)
56 inconclusive (no tuition)

Assuming most of the inconclusive are non-residents, you get:

53% DC residents
8% non-residents paying tuition
39% non-residents not paying tuition

What an absolute disaster.

Bowser, taunting critics at the grand reopening of Ellington in August:

“Let ’em talk about how much it cost. You’ll see; it’s worth it.”

I think a lot more people are going to be talking about that now, dummy.

https://currentnewspapers.com/duke-ellington-school-unveils-flashy-pricey-new-campus/

Bowser will be singing a different tune if the FBI's public integrity unit starts looking at the contracting process for the Ellington renovation. The extraordinary cost overruns are a red flag for skimming, kickbacks and corruption.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Internal investigation finds more than 150 students out of around 500 at Ellington live outside of the city, one has to assume without paying tuition because their cases have been forwarded to the attorney general's office. Another 50 have been flagged for "less serious problems" that have been sent to OSSE, per WaPo reporter:

https://twitter.com/PeteJamison/status/994947910163992576

That's nearly 50 percent of the school. Wow.

Or the school has historically accepted kids from outside DC and out of caution they simply referred all of out city students to the attorney general for them to figure out who is paying tuition and who is not.
I also would not be surprised if parents who wanted to pay tuition couldn't do so because they school or the city couldn't figure out the process or else they paid and the city or school didn't keep track

Isn't Ellington's primary mission, since it was founded, to educate students on color in the arts, regardless of whether they just live in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Isn't Ellington's primary mission, since it was founded, to educate students on color in the arts, regardless of whether they just live in DC?

Please show some evidence of this claim. Everything I have seen has said that Ellington was always a DCPS school. I think that, by its nature, means that it is a school primarily for DC resident students. Non-resident students paying tuition in DCPS schools are supposed to be a small group who are enrolled in DCPS for specific limited reasons that have been vetted by administrators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live next to Ellington. It's a line of MD-plated cars before school, after school, and during evening performances or post-rehearsals.

All the kids who actually live in DC take the bus and/or walk. I see them around the neighborhood and at the bus stops. The MD kids get dropped off and picked up in nice cars. The parents don't even bother to pull over and instead double-park and block the streets.

"Entitled" doesn't even begin to describe these folks. It's absurd.

Go to Jack Evans and ask him to take some steps. Make some proposals that are reasonable:
Jack - for the 164 students that are not residents, can DCPS freeze the students account / not issue transcripts until the issue is resolved?

When your child can not apply to college / transfer to your local school you approach the situation differently.

And BS on it is hurting the child - these kids are old enough to know what they are doing is wrong.

OR - since the student allocation funding for the school is based on count - and the student count is wrong - how about cutting the budget for Ellington next year to what the DC resident count is

DC Student allocation for next year for Ellington is almost $15K a student. I am sure if they had $2M less to spend the school leadership would take residency seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Internal investigation finds more than 150 students out of around 500 at Ellington live outside of the city, one has to assume without paying tuition because their cases have been forwarded to the attorney general's office. Another 50 have been flagged for "less serious problems" that have been sent to OSSE, per WaPo reporter:

https://twitter.com/PeteJamison/status/994947910163992576

That's nearly 50 percent of the school. Wow.

Or the school has historically accepted kids from outside DC and out of caution they simply referred all of out city students to the attorney general for them to figure out who is paying tuition and who is not.
I also would not be surprised if parents who wanted to pay tuition couldn't do so because they school or the city couldn't figure out the process or else they paid and the city or school didn't keep track

Oh please. They stole from the District's resources and I hope are penalized to the fullest extent of the law.