residency fraud? (!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used to live right by Ross and there was a steady stream of md plates in the afternoon. One woman would actually park in my driveway (in the alley behind Ross & my house) daily. When I asked her to please stop she screamed at me non-stop. These were definitely parents & all md plates. Sure, some could be non-custodial parents or whatever but it seemed unlikely when it was the same faces daily. Frustrating for such a crowded school

Do you think people actually commute in to Dupont Circle every day from MD to commit residency fraud? That seems VERY unlikely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, OP, you seem like a jerk.

Sure. To offer another perspective, we were a family that was unable to get in anywhere off of the lottery, and ended up having to move, to leave a neighborhood we loved and were heavily invested into and a home that we had literally bought only a couple of years earlier based on the location of three very good neighborhood schools that at the time had neighborhood preference and then changed to city wide lottery. Our one remaining inbound school was going to be doing huge renovations and was having major administrative upheaval, was plagued by residency fraud, and seemed too unstable to make an investment in at that point.

So while I understand the myriad reasons that residency fraud exists and is not cracked down on (because I really had to dig deep to make my peace with it and accept that these children are hopefully benefiting from more than just their parent's commute convenience) it was a cause of agony for us and had huge financial ramifications. We accept that we took an educated risk and lost. But system wide there are substantial, soft costs related to res fraud in the community that are not accounted for.

How ... is residency fraud the cause of your issues? You had a neighborhood school you chose not to attend. If you were in "agony" because you believed that there were kids from a different district attending your school ...so much so that you had to move ... that's truly on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We used to live right by Ross and there was a steady stream of md plates in the afternoon. One woman would actually park in my driveway (in the alley behind Ross & my house) daily. When I asked her to please stop she screamed at me non-stop. These were definitely parents & all md plates. Sure, some could be non-custodial parents or whatever but it seemed unlikely when it was the same faces daily. Frustrating for such a crowded school

Do you think people actually commute in to Dupont Circle every day from MD to commit residency fraud? That seems VERY unlikely.

Sure they do. They work in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, OP, you seem like a jerk.

Sure. To offer another perspective, we were a family that was unable to get in anywhere off of the lottery, and ended up having to move, to leave a neighborhood we loved and were heavily invested into and a home that we had literally bought only a couple of years earlier based on the location of three very good neighborhood schools that at the time had neighborhood preference and then changed to city wide lottery. Our one remaining inbound school was going to be doing huge renovations and was having major administrative upheaval, was plagued by residency fraud, and seemed too unstable to make an investment in at that point.

So while I understand the myriad reasons that residency fraud exists and is not cracked down on (because I really had to dig deep to make my peace with it and accept that these children are hopefully benefiting from more than just their parent's commute convenience) it was a cause of agony for us and had huge financial ramifications. We accept that we took an educated risk and lost. But system wide there are substantial, soft costs related to res fraud in the community that are not accounted for.

huh? Ludlow Tayor wasn't good enough for you? Or Peabody? Moving was a big mistake, if you moved long enough ago that there was still proximity preference for SWS. But I don't see what that has to do with residency fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, OP, you seem like a jerk.

Sure. To offer another perspective, we were a family that was unable to get in anywhere off of the lottery, and ended up having to move, to leave a neighborhood we loved and were heavily invested into and a home that we had literally bought only a couple of years earlier based on the location of three very good neighborhood schools that at the time had neighborhood preference and then changed to city wide lottery. Our one remaining inbound school was going to be doing huge renovations and was having major administrative upheaval, was plagued by residency fraud, and seemed too unstable to make an investment in at that point.

So while I understand the myriad reasons that residency fraud exists and is not cracked down on (because I really had to dig deep to make my peace with it and accept that these children are hopefully benefiting from more than just their parent's commute convenience) it was a cause of agony for us and had huge financial ramifications. We accept that we took an educated risk and lost. But system wide there are substantial, soft costs related to res fraud in the community that are not accounted for.

huh? Ludlow Tayor wasn't good enough for you? Or Peabody? Moving was a big mistake, if you moved long enough ago that there was still proximity preference for SWS. But I don't see what that has to do with residency fraud.

She is saying that non-resident children take spaces that could otherwise go to OOB DC residents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, OP, you seem like a jerk.

Sure. To offer another perspective, we were a family that was unable to get in anywhere off of the lottery, and ended up having to move, to leave a neighborhood we loved and were heavily invested into and a home that we had literally bought only a couple of years earlier based on the location of three very good neighborhood schools that at the time had neighborhood preference and then changed to city wide lottery. Our one remaining inbound school was going to be doing huge renovations and was having major administrative upheaval, was plagued by residency fraud, and seemed too unstable to make an investment in at that point.

So while I understand the myriad reasons that residency fraud exists and is not cracked down on (because I really had to dig deep to make my peace with it and accept that these children are hopefully benefiting from more than just their parent's commute convenience) it was a cause of agony for us and had huge financial ramifications. We accept that we took an educated risk and lost. But system wide there are substantial, soft costs related to res fraud in the community that are not accounted for.

How ... is residency fraud the cause of your issues? You had a neighborhood school you chose not to attend. If you were in "agony" because you believed that there were kids from a different district attending your school ...so much so that you had to move ... that's truly on you.

To the PP who was unable to get anywhere off the lottery and ended up having to move from the Hill, why didn't you simply buy, or rent, IB for a stable school with a bright future, say Ludlow or Brent, in the first instance, or the second? Maury and Watkins also seem to work for most parents, despite their "huge renovations." Those project never last more than a year and a half, with the kids being taught in very nice, roomy classroom trailers in the interim.

To the rest of you, why fuss about residency fraud when you are not in command of all the facts? Some of the families allegedly committing residency fraud get through investigations for whatever reasons. If you feel the need to report somebody, go for it, but the odds are against the kid being kicked out of your school. For one thing, the wway DCPS and OSSE write the residency rules isn't the way you want them to read. In some upscale school districts, school system leaders spell out requirements that aren't on the books here in DC, like the kid needs to sleep at the residence used for registration at least 50% of the nights in a given school year. It's just not easy for OSSE to crack down on individual cheating families with the wimpy rules they've got to work with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, OP, you seem like a jerk.

Sure. To offer another perspective, we were a family that was unable to get in anywhere off of the lottery, and ended up having to move, to leave a neighborhood we loved and were heavily invested into and a home that we had literally bought only a couple of years earlier based on the location of three very good neighborhood schools that at the time had neighborhood preference and then changed to city wide lottery. Our one remaining inbound school was going to be doing huge renovations and was having major administrative upheaval, was plagued by residency fraud, and seemed too unstable to make an investment in at that point.

So while I understand the myriad reasons that residency fraud exists and is not cracked down on (because I really had to dig deep to make my peace with it and accept that these children are hopefully benefiting from more than just their parent's commute convenience) it was a cause of agony for us and had huge financial ramifications. We accept that we took an educated risk and lost. But system wide there are substantial, soft costs related to res fraud in the community that are not accounted for.

huh? Ludlow Tayor wasn't good enough for you? Or Peabody? Moving was a big mistake, if you moved long enough ago that there was still proximity preference for SWS. But I don't see what that has to do with residency fraud.

She is saying that non-resident children take spaces that could otherwise go to OOB DC residents.

This. I know of a family (friends of friends) that did the OOB PK4 lottery for our neighborhood school. They'd heard it was easy to get off the waitlist, but never did. They then tried to buy a home in our neighborhood, but were outbid (home in question went for 100K over list). Not sure what they ended up doing, but they may have left the city.

They tried to do it the right way, but weren't successful. And here you have other people who use a friend or relative's address to send their kids to DC schools from MD.

I think there will be a bigger crackdown in coming years--as neighborhood schools begin to fill with IB families, there will be more scrutiny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, OP, you seem like a jerk.

Sure. To offer another perspective, we were a family that was unable to get in anywhere off of the lottery, and ended up having to move, to leave a neighborhood we loved and were heavily invested into and a home that we had literally bought only a couple of years earlier based on the location of three very good neighborhood schools that at the time had neighborhood preference and then changed to city wide lottery. Our one remaining inbound school was going to be doing huge renovations and was having major administrative upheaval, was plagued by residency fraud, and seemed too unstable to make an investment in at that point.

So while I understand the myriad reasons that residency fraud exists and is not cracked down on (because I really had to dig deep to make my peace with it and accept that these children are hopefully benefiting from more than just their parent's commute convenience) it was a cause of agony for us and had huge financial ramifications. We accept that we took an educated risk and lost. But system wide there are substantial, soft costs related to res fraud in the community that are not accounted for.

How ... is residency fraud the cause of your issues? You had a neighborhood school you chose not to attend. If you were in "agony" because you believed that there were kids from a different district attending your school ...so much so that you had to move ... that's truly on you.

To the PP who was unable to get anywhere off the lottery and ended up having to move from the Hill, why didn't you simply buy, or rent, IB for a stable school with a bright future, say Ludlow or Brent, in the first instance, or the second? Maury and Watkins also seem to work for most parents, despite their "huge renovations." Those project never last more than a year and a half, with the kids being taught in very nice, roomy classroom trailers in the interim.

To the rest of you, why fuss about residency fraud when you are not in command of all the facts? Some of the families allegedly committing residency fraud get through investigations for whatever reasons. If you feel the need to report somebody, go for it, but the odds are against the kid being kicked out of your school. For one thing, the wway DCPS and OSSE write the residency rules isn't the way you want them to read. In some upscale school districts, school system leaders spell out requirements that aren't on the books here in DC, like the kid needs to sleep at the residence used for registration at least 50% of the nights in a given school year. It's just not easy for OSSE to crack down on individual cheating families with the wimpy rules they've got to work with.

Sounds like this PP missed out on her chance to attend a great school (Ludlow-Taylor) and now regrets it and is blaming residence fraud.

[Anonymous]

I just reported someone thru the website. The student lives in PG with both parents, but her mother works in DC and wanted a free longer school day, plus didn’t want to pay for private anymore. She has her documents pretty well covered though. She registered her car in DC and used a relative’s address. I’m not sure what OSSE can do, really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just reported someone thru the website. The student lives in PG with both parents, but her mother works in DC and wanted a free longer school day, plus didn’t want to pay for private anymore. She has her documents pretty well covered though. She registered her car in DC and used a relative’s address. I’m not sure what OSSE can do, really.

Check her state taxes and see if she is paying in DC or MD.

[Anonymous]

What if you own two properties? You live in DC during the week and go to a cottage in VA on weekends or holidays? Many folks do this to avoid the long commutes during the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if you own two properties? You live in DC during the week and go to a cottage in VA on weekends or holidays? Many folks do this to avoid the long commutes during the week.

Legit DC residents - we have a few of these at our charter

[Anonymous]

Ever hear of divorce/joint custody?

Ever hear of nannies?

Ever hear of grandparents?

Ever hear of MYOB?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if you own two properties? You live in DC during the week and go to a cottage in VA on weekends or holidays? Many folks do this to avoid the long commutes during the week.

Depends where you file income tax. If you get investigated by OSSE, they want to see DC withholding for up to three years. We own two properties, were investigated two years ago, showed the tax returns and other docs, and were cleared on the spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you own two properties? You live in DC during the week and go to a cottage in VA on weekends or holidays? Many folks do this to avoid the long commutes during the week.

Legit DC residents - we have a few of these at our charter

As long as the pay DC income tax ...