Moving - what if I just don’t update my address?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Congratulations, you're contemplating the commission of a crime!

This is Montgomery County. Nobody needs to follow the rules anymore. Montgomery County offers a ‘shared housing’ form to allow kids to attend school anywhere in the county if they can get someone there to agree to it.

Nobody asks for proof of residency and it is very hard for MCPS to prove that a kid does not live somewhere.

We know SO many families who don’t live in the cluster where their kid attends school and they are honest about either using a false address or using a relative’s address or falsely using a ‘shared housing’ situation.

It’s pretty commonplace and none of these families have ever been called out. Families have been doing this for years. Especially in some cultures where extended family is considered ‘family’, we don’t even see this as a crime or as fraud.

[Anonymous]

I would find it hard to tell my child we were not following the rules because we did not care too...but they should always follow the rules!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congratulations, you're contemplating the commission of a crime!

This is Montgomery County. Nobody needs to follow the rules anymore. Montgomery County offers a ‘shared housing’ form to allow kids to attend school anywhere in the county if they can get someone there to agree to it.

Nobody asks for proof of residency and it is very hard for MCPS to prove that a kid does not live somewhere.

We know SO many families who don’t live in the cluster where their kid attends school and they are honest about either using a false address or using a relative’s address or falsely using a ‘shared housing’ situation.

It’s pretty commonplace and none of these families have ever been called out. Families have been doing this for years. Especially in some cultures where extended family is considered ‘family’, we don’t even see this as a crime or as fraud.

Our school is overcrowded so if I knew of anyone doing this I'd make sure they were prosecuted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congratulations, you're contemplating the commission of a crime!

This is Montgomery County. Nobody needs to follow the rules anymore. Montgomery County offers a ‘shared housing’ form to allow kids to attend school anywhere in the county if they can get someone there to agree to it.

Nobody asks for proof of residency and it is very hard for MCPS to prove that a kid does not live somewhere.

We know SO many families who don’t live in the cluster where their kid attends school and they are honest about either using a false address or using a relative’s address or falsely using a ‘shared housing’ situation.

It’s pretty commonplace and none of these families have ever been called out. Families have been doing this for years. Especially in some cultures where extended family is considered ‘family’, we don’t even see this as a crime or as fraud.

Our school is overcrowded so if I knew of anyone doing this I'd make sure they were prosecuted.

Many MCPS schools are overcrowded.

You can try to ‘make sure they were prosecuted’, but MCPS doesn’t really bother. They would have to somehow prove that the kid lives elsewhere. Which is almost impossible to do. They are not sending the attendance Secretary to the kid’s home! Impossible to enforce residency rules, so MCPS does not bother.

[Anonymous]

When we moved, our school required some verification for new address. Our kid was at a magnet and not home school, so it wasn't an MCPS boundary issue. Maybe they wanted to confirm we weren't in DC or something. I'm not sure if they initiated, or if we updated the address and then they required additional proof.

I think if it is just a year or two, you are fine, but, like another PP said, you are proposing fraud, and it will seem more evident if your kids just started in a school and you move to a cheaper neighborhood our of boundary.

Perhaps keep it above board and apply for a COSA. I think you have a good chance if your kid is already attending the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are your kids? If you only need to hold up this charade for 1-2 years, maybe. But if you have a kid in K, 1 or 2, I'd just transfer schools.

Kids are in 3rd grade. If they were younger, I’d move them. Lots of trauma this last year - divorce and then death by suicide. It’s one thing to have to move home (not what I want but I have to move), it’s another to switch their schools.

Poster above here. Just saw this, and I'm so sorry. I think if you talk to principal or apply for COSA based on this, it will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congratulations, you're contemplating the commission of a crime!

This is Montgomery County. Nobody needs to follow the rules anymore. Montgomery County offers a ‘shared housing’ form to allow kids to attend school anywhere in the county if they can get someone there to agree to it.

Nobody asks for proof of residency and it is very hard for MCPS to prove that a kid does not live somewhere.

We know SO many families who don’t live in the cluster where their kid attends school and they are honest about either using a false address or using a relative’s address or falsely using a ‘shared housing’ situation.

It’s pretty commonplace and none of these families have ever been called out. Families have been doing this for years. Especially in some cultures where extended family is considered ‘family’, we don’t even see this as a crime or as fraud.

So, they are honest about being dishonest? Interesting....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would find it hard to tell my child we were not following the rules because we did not care too...but they should always follow the rules!

Who says I'd tell my kid to say / not say anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we moved, our school required some verification for new address. Our kid was at a magnet and not home school, so it wasn't an MCPS boundary issue. Maybe they wanted to confirm we weren't in DC or something. I'm not sure if they initiated, or if we updated the address and then they required additional proof.

I think if it is just a year or two, you are fine, but, like another PP said, you are proposing fraud, and it will seem more evident if your kids just started in a school and you move to a cheaper neighborhood our of boundary.

Perhaps keep it above board and apply for a COSA. I think you have a good chance if your kid is already attending the school.

I will not be moving to a cheaper area, nor will the school boundary I'm considering be "worse". In fact, the neighborhood I am moving to has a more desirable school in terms of test scores, etc (Great schools 8 vs the current school a 5 ... and no, I don't put much stock in the GS rating). I just want my children to have some continuity and there is literally NO housing in bounds right now. None.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Theoretically speaking, what if I were to move to an adjacent neighborhood in MoCo, one literally two blocks from where I live now but in another school’s boundary. I know technically, my kids switch schools. What if I don’t update my address?

Congratulations! You are a mcps administrator. They put their kids in whatever school they want. Boundaries are meaningless. Heck McKnight signed a contract that she would move here. Did she? Heck no. Her kid still lives in pg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congratulations, you're contemplating the commission of a crime!

This is Montgomery County. Nobody needs to follow the rules anymore. Montgomery County offers a ‘shared housing’ form to allow kids to attend school anywhere in the county if they can get someone there to agree to it.

Nobody asks for proof of residency and it is very hard for MCPS to prove that a kid does not live somewhere.

We know SO many families who don’t live in the cluster where their kid attends school and they are honest about either using a false address or using a relative’s address or falsely using a ‘shared housing’ situation.

It’s pretty commonplace and none of these families have ever been called out. Families have been doing this for years. Especially in some cultures where extended family is considered ‘family’, we don’t even see this as a crime or as fraud.

So, they are honest about being dishonest? Interesting....

Most definitely! Lots of families are honest that their kids are attending a school that is not in their cluster or using a false address. MCPS welcomes this with their Shared Housing form. Makes is super easy to do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would find it hard to tell my child we were not following the rules because we did not care too...but they should always follow the rules!

Who says I'd tell my kid to say / not say anything?

They would notice no one on the street attends the same school, I think. A parent might comment "I did not realize this neighborhood attended Schol #5".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are your kids? If you only need to hold up this charade for 1-2 years, maybe. But if you have a kid in K, 1 or 2, I'd just transfer schools.

Kids are in 3rd grade. If they were younger, I’d move them. Lots of trauma this last year - divorce and then death by suicide. It’s one thing to have to move home (not what I want but I have to move), it’s another to switch their schools.

Poster above here. Just saw this, and I'm so sorry. I think if you talk to principal or apply for COSA based on this, it will be fine.

I agree, request a COSA to stay at the school.

And to other posters, yes, schools do investigate fraudulent addresses, they might not prosecute but you won’t be able to send your child to a school if you don’t live within the boundaries. I’ve seen it happen multiple times.

[Anonymous]

It's not about asking for proof of address. The schools could send out random mail, that is really a test of address.
Fairfax and Loudoun do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are your kids? If you only need to hold up this charade for 1-2 years, maybe. But if you have a kid in K, 1 or 2, I'd just transfer schools.

Kids are in 3rd grade. If they were younger, I’d move them. Lots of trauma this last year - divorce and then death by suicide. It’s one thing to have to move home (not what I want but I have to move), it’s another to switch their schools.

Poster above here. Just saw this, and I'm so sorry. I think if you talk to principal or apply for COSA based on this, it will be fine.

I agree, request a COSA to stay at the school.

And to other posters, yes, schools do investigate fraudulent addresses, they might not prosecute but you won’t be able to send your child to a school if you don’t live within the boundaries. I’ve seen it happen multiple times.

Yeah, don't put a kid who has already been through this in the position of having to cover up where they live. It's the wrong thing to do to the child.