Renting but not occupying for DCPS in-boundary residency purposes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a concrete example of why this is not a good idea. I live in the Ross ES school zone, which is a super-highly rated school with PK3. They have home visits for pre-K kids. In the past, teachers have scheduled home visits right before the school year started, realized the parents in fact, did not live within the boundary, and the kids were not allowed to take those PK slots and I would guess, had to scramble to find a new option in August.

And also agree with other people that OP's conscience should not be "clean."

Home visits are optional, and if OP's kid is already in a $4K / month private the child is past the age where home visits occur anyway.

But yeah, she shouldn't do what she describes.

But there is a legal way to achieve the same thing. Rent IB for the school you wish to attend with the $4K tuition money and live in that place for at least one year (has to be K or above). Rent out your bigger home across town. After you've completed a year at the 'good' school, move back to your house across town.

That is TOTALLY legal, and DCPS will let you stay in the school through the end of the feeder pattern.

This is how the handbook was recently re-written (probably by some person whose child is about to enroll), but this practice and the handbook violate the regulations.

What regulations? Do you have a citation? The only regulations I am aware of related to state (district) residency. The boundary review process made recommendations to curb principal discretion but they weren't binding.

DCPS can handle its boundary policies however it wants; previously it was up to principal's to decide if a family that moved OOB but stayed in the district could continue. DCPS central has removed the discretion and made it uniform by saying students, past K, can stay.

DP: An associated footnote in the Handbook cites the regulation. Check it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi. I'm a DC resident, but I'm paying for private school because my in-boundary school is no good and I struck out in the DCPS lottery. I'm considering renting an apartment in-boundary of a good DCPS school, which would be less expensive than what I'm paying for private school, just so we have an in-boundary address. I wouldn't move in. Maybe I would sublet, or AirBNB, if allowed, to recoup some of the rent money, or just leave it empty. Is that sort of thing kosher? It's not like would be lying about my DC residency, I pay plenty of taxes to DC, my conscience is clean.

No. Residency means you live there. DCPS can even do a home check to make sure you and your kids actually live there -- ie, eat and sleep there.

Why have you decided your "conscience is clean" before knowing the rules?

Is there a source for this? Just curious, since I've never heard this before. I know of at least one family at my kid's school who is doing this (i.e., using the address of a property they own, but which only relatives occupy currently).

They do it if there is a report of suspected boundary fraud to the principal, or if your residency documentation is incomplete or suspect.

But if they have paperwork that looks legitimate, and no one reports the family for boundary fraud, they will probably get away with it.

See something, say something. Or don't complain about it.

Does suspected boundary fraud have to be reported to the principal, or can it be reported some other way? The family I'm thinking of is extremely active at the school. I would like to assume the principal doesn't know about the boundary fraud, but I'm not sure.

You can report suspected boundary fraud to your principal, but s/he will just turn the info over to the office of the DCPS residency fraud investigators. They will inform the principal of their findings. The investigators ask for a big stack of res docs if they investigate. If the family owns the property, doesn't rent it to a lease holder, and pays DC taxes, DCPS will very likely clear them as per their rules. The fraud team is on the look out for personal vendettas. Sounds like you've got an axe to grind with this family.

[Anonymous]

Many DC families shuttle kids between relatives' places. That's always been true. DCPS isn't in the mode of cracking down on multigenerational families over residency regardless of SES if DC taxes are paid, particularly if the kids are in K or higher.

Renting an apt just to get a kid into a school is different than the kids staying with grandma and grandad part of the time. OP, I wouldn't do it if i were you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many DC families shuttle kids between relatives' places. That's always been true. DCPS isn't in the mode of cracking down on multigenerational families over residency regardless of SES if DC taxes are paid, particularly if the kids are in K or higher.

Renting an apt just to get a kid into a school is different than the kids staying with grandma and grandad part of the time. OP, I wouldn't do it if i were you.

Is it really different? Kids should go to their neighborhood school - occasionally sleeping at grandmas should not qualify them for her neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

DCPS doesn't want to open this can of worms in a school system where almost 80% of students are FARMs. Many FARMs families are run by matriarchs who take more responsibility for raising kids than older relatives generally do in high SES 2-parent families. They don't have a tradition of going at families who pay DC taxes and can produce residency docs beyond the basic ones asked for at enrollment. If you don't like it, you can go to your CM to complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many DC families shuttle kids between relatives' places. That's always been true. DCPS isn't in the mode of cracking down on multigenerational families over residency regardless of SES if DC taxes are paid, particularly if the kids are in K or higher.

Renting an apt just to get a kid into a school is different than the kids staying with grandma and grandad part of the time. OP, I wouldn't do it if i were you.

Is it really different? Kids should go to their neighborhood school - occasionally sleeping at grandmas should not qualify them for her neighborhood school.

DCPS cares about keeping DC residents in school period. This is what is behind the 'once you're in, you can stay' policies. And academically outcomes are better if the students don't bounce from school to school.

The rules weren't designed for an upper middle-class family to game the system (although that's possible) but to support kids from families with less stable economic and housing situations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You might get away with cheating the system, but you would be depriving your child of a normal social life. Do you really want to have your daughter lie to friends about where she lives and avoid inviting kids over for playdates?

I would move IB for a year, get involved in the school, and then ask the principal if you can move back to your house while still staying in the school. Sneaking around and being dishonest sounds stressful for everyone involved.

I agree with this- think about the implications for your child- also why don’t you just keep them in their private school and not disrupt their education unnecessarily

[Anonymous]

Op would be gaming the system so she can stay in her big EOTP house and her kids can go to school with the kids of people she doesn't like so they don't have to go to school with kids she doesn't like. Nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why have you decided your "conscience is clean" before knowing the rules?

My conscience is clean because I'm currently supporting the public school system through my substantial tax contributions, which is just fine by me, and I'm willing to continue doing it, but I'd like to also get some benefit from it. I do OK in terms of income, and I choose to live in an "up-and-coming" part of the city, because I don't believe in well-off people segregating themselves in their Georgetown or Kalorama islands of privilege. I want my daughter to be exposed to a richer, more diverse social environment than she currently gets at her $4K/month private school, but I'm not willing to sacrifice the quality of her education. If I can spend $1,500 on rent instead, and send her to a good public school that I'm already paying for, I won't feel an ounce of guilt about it.

This is ridiculous logic. I'm also supporting the public schools through my tax contribution. The school my kids get for it is either the school we live in-bounds for or the school we get into in the lottery. Just because you're paying taxes doesn't mean you get to go to whatever you think is the best school by whatever means you think are appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi. I'm a DC resident, but I'm paying for private school because my in-boundary school is no good and I struck out in the DCPS lottery. I'm considering renting an apartment in-boundary of a good DCPS school, which would be less expensive than what I'm paying for private school, just so we have an in-boundary address. I wouldn't move in. Maybe I would sublet, or AirBNB, if allowed, to recoup some of the rent money, or just leave it empty. Is that sort of thing kosher? It's not like would be lying about my DC residency, I pay plenty of taxes to DC, my conscience is clean.

No. Residency means you live there. DCPS can even do a home check to make sure you and your kids actually live there -- ie, eat and sleep there.

Why have you decided your "conscience is clean" before knowing the rules?

Is there a source for this? Just curious, since I've never heard this before. I know of at least one family at my kid's school who is doing this (i.e., using the address of a property they own, but which only relatives occupy currently).

They do it if there is a report of suspected boundary fraud to the principal, or if your residency documentation is incomplete or suspect.

But if they have paperwork that looks legitimate, and no one reports the family for boundary fraud, they will probably get away with it.

See something, say something. Or don't complain about it.

Does suspected boundary fraud have to be reported to the principal, or can it be reported some other way? The family I'm thinking of is extremely active at the school. I would like to assume the principal doesn't know about the boundary fraud, but I'm not sure.

You can report suspected boundary fraud to your principal, but s/he will just turn the info over to the office of the DCPS residency fraud investigators. They will inform the principal of their findings. The investigators ask for a big stack of res docs if they investigate. If the family owns the property, doesn't rent it to a lease holder, and pays DC taxes, DCPS will very likely clear them as per their rules. The fraud team is on the look out for personal vendettas. Sounds like you've got an axe to grind with this family.

PP here. I don't have a personal axe to grind; they're just difficult people within the school community. I won't go through the trouble of turning them in, but I wouldn't mind if someone else did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op would be gaming the system so she can stay in her big EOTP house and her kids can go to school with the kids of people she doesn't like so they don't have to go to school with kids she doesn't like. Nice.

Believe it or not, people are committing both residency and boundary fraud EOTP too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might get away with cheating the system, but you would be depriving your child of a normal social life. Do you really want to have your daughter lie to friends about where she lives and avoid inviting kids over for playdates?

I would move IB for a year, get involved in the school, and then ask the principal if you can move back to your house while still staying in the school. Sneaking around and being dishonest sounds stressful for everyone involved.

I agree with this- think about the implications for your child- also why don’t you just keep them in their private school and not disrupt their education unnecessarily

I think this is either overblown, or you're play dates are much more magical that the kinds my kids go to. Besides, OP's daughter already goes to private school, so her neighbors aren't her classmates anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many DC families shuttle kids between relatives' places. That's always been true. DCPS isn't in the mode of cracking down on multigenerational families over residency regardless of SES if DC taxes are paid, particularly if the kids are in K or higher.

Renting an apt just to get a kid into a school is different than the kids staying with grandma and grandad part of the time. OP, I wouldn't do it if i were you.

Is it really different? Kids should go to their neighborhood school - occasionally sleeping at grandmas should not qualify them for her neighborhood school.

DCPS cares about keeping DC residents in school period. This is what is behind the 'once you're in, you can stay' policies. And academically outcomes are better if the students don't bounce from school to school.

The rules weren't designed for an upper middle-class family to game the system (although that's possible) but to support kids from families with less stable economic and housing situations.

Exactly. DCPS doesn't care if DC resident grandma gets a kid to school vs. DC resident mom or dad. They care if somebody get them there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I don't believe in well-off people segregating themselves in their Georgetown or Kalorama islands of privilege. I want my daughter to be exposed to a richer, more diverse social environment than she currently gets at her $4K/month private school, but I'm not willing to sacrifice the quality of her education. If I can spend $1,500 on rent instead, and send her to a good public school that I'm already paying for, I won't feel an ounce of guilt about it.

Fixed it for you: "I don't believe in well-off people segregating themselves. Except in their well-off segregated schools, which I would like my kid to attend."

Exactly. I'd add: "I don't want to downsize from my house, which is less expensive because of the "diverse social environment." Which I don't actually want to expose my daughter to, because ewww, poor/brown people. Also, if I move WOTP, I lose my ability to brag about how progressive I am."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many DC families shuttle kids between relatives' places. That's always been true. DCPS isn't in the mode of cracking down on multigenerational families over residency regardless of SES if DC taxes are paid, particularly if the kids are in K or higher.

Renting an apt just to get a kid into a school is different than the kids staying with grandma and grandad part of the time. OP, I wouldn't do it if i were you.

Is it really different? Kids should go to their neighborhood school - occasionally sleeping at grandmas should not qualify them for her neighborhood school.

DCPS cares about keeping DC residents in school period. This is what is behind the 'once you're in, you can stay' policies. And academically outcomes are better if the students don't bounce from school to school.

The rules weren't designed for an upper middle-class family to game the system (although that's possible) but to support kids from families with less stable economic and housing situations.

Exactly. DCPS doesn't care if DC resident grandma gets a kid to school vs. DC resident mom or dad. They care if somebody get them there.

And they generally care about NOT losing them to the charter sector.