First day drop off -- MD tags

[Anonymous]

I don't really think it would be. The rates of fraud found are very low.

And, frankly, it was kind of a hassle taking the time off work to come down there with more documents to prove residency. We pay our utility bills electronically, so I didn't have the correct kind of statement. (Did you know when you ask for a copy of your bill Washington Gas gives you a csv file? You do now...) -- my husband's the one collecting the dc paycheck, and he couldn't get off work to apply (they require it brought in person by the parent enrolling the student. Spouse can't do it, even though we live together).

And DC requires everything to be within one or two months of showing proof. Even though I'd given a utility bill when we originally enrolled, I had to bring in a new one (which I didn't have, since it was all electronic now. I printed out statements from Pepco and Washington Gas and they accepted them... but who knows? They accepted our paperwork in May too).

My point is, they take it seriously. And please realize, it's a pain in the ass that you'd be inflicting on some other working parent, making them go through this. I really don't know what kind of person would be that douchey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My school just asked for supplemental information to prove our residency.

We had it, of course, but I take this as a sign that they do investigate, they are on top of it, and all the crazy stalking moms standing on sidewalks writing down license plates isn't doing anything. (We have DC plates. You know, because we live in DC.)

Maybe they need to make pointed investigations on the low-hanging fruit, i.e. parents dropping off kids in front of the school with out-of-state tags. That would be a better use of resources. DCPS administrators aren't the brightest bulbs....

Well who do you think DCPS can get for the front office with a low paying salary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't really think it would be. The rates of fraud found are very low.

Citation, please?

[Anonymous]

Read this thread. There are links a ways back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't really think it would be. The rates of fraud found are very low.

And, frankly, it was kind of a hassle taking the time off work to come down there with more documents to prove residency. We pay our utility bills electronically, so I didn't have the correct kind of statement. (Did you know when you ask for a copy of your bill Washington Gas gives you a csv file? You do now...) -- my husband's the one collecting the dc paycheck, and he couldn't get off work to apply (they require it brought in person by the parent enrolling the student. Spouse can't do it, even though we live together).

And DC requires everything to be within one or two months of showing proof. Even though I'd given a utility bill when we originally enrolled, I had to bring in a new one (which I didn't have, since it was all electronic now. I printed out statements from Pepco and Washington Gas and they accepted them... but who knows? They accepted our paperwork in May too).

My point is, they take it seriously. And please realize, it's a pain in the ass that you'd be inflicting on some other working parent, making them go through this. I really don't know what kind of person would be that douchey.

Oh please, it takes 5 minutes to print out a statement. And probably no more than an hour to turn them in personally once you dropped off your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read this thread. There are links a ways back.

No, there aren't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't really think it would be. The rates of fraud found are very low.

And, frankly, it was kind of a hassle taking the time off work to come down there with more documents to prove residency. We pay our utility bills electronically, so I didn't have the correct kind of statement. (Did you know when you ask for a copy of your bill Washington Gas gives you a csv file? You do now...) -- my husband's the one collecting the dc paycheck, and he couldn't get off work to apply (they require it brought in person by the parent enrolling the student. Spouse can't do it, even though we live together).

And DC requires everything to be within one or two months of showing proof. Even though I'd given a utility bill when we originally enrolled, I had to bring in a new one (which I didn't have, since it was all electronic now. I printed out statements from Pepco and Washington Gas and they accepted them... but who knows? They accepted our paperwork in May too).

My point is, they take it seriously. And please realize, it's a pain in the ass that you'd be inflicting on some other working parent, making them go through this. I really don't know what kind of person would be that douchey.

Oh please, it takes 5 minutes to print out a statement. And probably no more than an hour to turn them in personally once you dropped off your child.

+1, our school requires this every year and yours should too. If you're not cheating then it's no big deal. Cut the crap about taking time off from work. You can do it at drop off, takes 5 mins.

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/excel-academy-public-charter-school-under-scrutiny-for-alleged-residency-fraud/2014/11/04/a23e7994-6435-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html

Some data here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:here's my take (as someone who couldn't afford a house in a good school district, got in a charter via the lottery, moved eotp, may have to go private for middle and high school as I have no viable options past 6th grade).

if residency cheating or waitlist cheating is a problem (and I'm not convinced it is) it is not MY problem. It is a problem for school administrators. And if they don't care and I do, then perhaps I'm not at the right school for my family. You can due do diligence and mention to the administration that larla has md tags, but it is up to them to care. For your family 1) you can either afford to live in the school district or you can't (it won't kill you to pay for pk4 like the rest of the country); if you can't afford to live in the school district, you shouldn't be upset about not going to that school while someone else who can't afford to live in the school district does go to the school 2) if the charter school is cheating on waitlists and knowingly admitting md residents, you do not want to go there. The administration is just untrustworthy. perhaps you wish they had a different administration - but in any case your beef is with the corrupt administration not the residency cheaters who benefit.

You are COMPLETELY missing the point. These are PUBLIC schools, provided by the govt we elect, paid for with our labor via taxes. This is not a question of, I think Starbucks is unethical so I will buy my coffee elsewhere. If you reasonably suspect this kind of dishonesty on the part of cheaters, and impunity on the part of school admins, then you should report it. Just as you would report other types of serious fraud of govt resources.

You should not simply vote with your feet. That's what DC area residents did for years from the 60s through to the late 90s or early 00s, and look what good it did. Frankly it is a very positive sign of the times that anyone cares about this. It is a sign that DC govt is becoming more serious, more honest. Cheating is not new, what is new is people getting caught.

And I think it is regrettable that racist comments get posted in these threads (though far outnumbered by race-baiting comments). But I completely agree with non-racist attempts to shame cheaters. Investigation of this type of fraud is difficult, and shaming can perform an important social function in lieu of easy investigation. Perhaps threads like this make people think twice about cheating. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but it would be a positive result.

+1. Well put.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't really think it would be. The rates of fraud found are very low.

And, frankly, it was kind of a hassle taking the time off work to come down there with more documents to prove residency. We pay our utility bills electronically, so I didn't have the correct kind of statement. (Did you know when you ask for a copy of your bill Washington Gas gives you a csv file? You do now...) -- my husband's the one collecting the dc paycheck, and he couldn't get off work to apply (they require it brought in person by the parent enrolling the student. Spouse can't do it, even though we live together).

And DC requires everything to be within one or two months of showing proof. Even though I'd given a utility bill when we originally enrolled, I had to bring in a new one (which I didn't have, since it was all electronic now. I printed out statements from Pepco and Washington Gas and they accepted them... but who knows? They accepted our paperwork in May too).

My point is, they take it seriously. And please realize, it's a pain in the ass that you'd be inflicting on some other working parent, making them go through this. I really don't know what kind of person would be that douchey.

Oh please, it takes 5 minutes to print out a statement. And probably no more than an hour to turn them in personally once you dropped off your child.

+1, our school requires this every year and yours should too. If you're not cheating then it's no big deal. Cut the crap about taking time off from work. You can do it at drop off, takes 5 mins.

+2. If you're not cheating, it's easy to prove it and takes five minutes. No sympathy here. If you're not a cheater, you should have no problem proving you're legit. Apparently, there was some doubt if you had to provide more proof. That should be no surprise to you and maybe you should a better job next time preparing proper documents if you are truly a deserving DC resident registering in the school you are entitled to enroll in.

For any cheater, I could care less if it takes hours and hours to manufacture documents or plan a move from the school. Those are the consequences of theft, and if all you have to do is move or pull your child from a school you cheated to get into, consider yourself lucky.

[Anonymous]

When I was a kid in DC, we lived in DC but were planning on moving at the end of the school year. My mom bought a car towards the end of the school year with MD tags, because in between our move to another state, we were planning on living with my grandparents (who lived in MD) for a few months and in a few months our current residence would not be our official residence after they sold the house. Also, insurance and registration was cheaper in MD at the time. So even though we were DC legally DC residents, attending our in bound school, my parents had MD plates on one of their cars for a few months.

There are all kinds of situations like this. Maybe they lived in MD as renters and just bought a house in the district and haven't had a chance to change their registration yet. Maybe the parents have joint custody and one parent lives in DC and the other lives in MD. Maybe a grandparent was dropping the kids off at school, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My school just asked for supplemental information to prove our residency.

We had it, of course, but I take this as a sign that they do investigate, they are on top of it, and all the crazy stalking moms standing on sidewalks writing down license plates isn't doing anything. (We have DC plates. You know, because we live in DC.)

Maybe they need to make pointed investigations on the low-hanging fruit, i.e. parents dropping off kids in front of the school with out-of-state tags. That would be a better use of resources. DCPS administrators aren't the brightest bulbs....

Well who do you think DCPS can get for the front office with a low paying salary.

Have you checked out the salaries? Administrators, as in people in management positions, get paid very well in DCPS. They probably make well more than you, and have more common sense to boot. The administrators set the policy and instruct the staff on what procedures to follow. Instructing staff to follow up on red flag issues such as Md. tags by requiring additional substantiation of residence, and making a referral to MPD or DMV that out-of-state tags are illegally on a DC-based vehicle (if appropriate), would be what an administrator would do. This all assumes they care about residency fraud. The point of this thread is that it appears they don't care, which is very regrettable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was a kid in DC, we lived in DC but were planning on moving at the end of the school year. My mom bought a car towards the end of the school year with MD tags, because in between our move to another state, we were planning on living with my grandparents (who lived in MD) for a few months and in a few months our current residence would not be our official residence after they sold the house. Also, insurance and registration was cheaper in MD at the time. So even though we were DC legally DC residents, attending our in bound school, my parents had MD plates on one of their cars for a few months.

There are all kinds of situations like this. Maybe they lived in MD as renters and just bought a house in the district and haven't had a chance to change their registration yet. Maybe the parents have joint custody and one parent lives in DC and the other lives in MD. Maybe a grandparent was dropping the kids off at school, etc.

That was not legal. You need to register a car in the actual place of residence and pay taxes there. Examples like this are no defense. There is no gray zone about your primary place of residence, sorry.

[Anonymous]

+2. If you're not cheating, it's easy to prove it and takes five minutes. No sympathy here. If you're not a cheater, you should have no problem proving you're legit. Apparently, there was some doubt if you had to provide more proof. That should be no surprise to you and maybe you should a better job next time preparing proper documents if you are truly a deserving DC resident registering in the school you are entitled to enroll in.

For any cheater, I could care less if it takes hours and hours to manufacture documents or plan a move from the school. Those are the consequences of theft, and if all you have to do is move or pull your child from a school you cheated to get into, consider yourself lucky.

I really have no issues with DC people on a day to day basis.

And then I come here and I wonder, wtf is this backwater hellplace that we have moved to? Why is everyone so self righteous and shrill? Why is everyone so sure that they know everyone's story just from a sentence or two? Or a license plate on a car? What was the mother of the poster supposed to do? Enroll her kids in MD school for a few months so their plates matched their state? Was it a pain for me to prove residency (again)? Yes. A minor one, but a pain. The administrators aren't there usually when I do drop off, so I had to do it late, and then I had to wait, so I was also late to work. Our printer jammed when I printing. As it always does. I had to go to the Fed Ex place to print out the statements. No, none of that is earthshattering, but it is what it is. When we enrolled in May, we didn't have the signed lease back from our landlords, because we'd just moved in. So the copy I presented was missing a signature. And since we'd just moved, we'd just opened utility accounts. Life is not so cut and dry as you seem to think--or so simple. A good rule of thumb is, don't be a whiny douche. Assume that everyone is not out to cheat your children out of a lottery slot they've already received. And take the stick out of your ass.

[Anonymous]

This is what the real objection by the "cheaters" crowd boils down to for the ones who don't get why they are so adamant: "Hey we already have enough black people, this is bull shit that the black government isn't cracking down on the black people coming across from PG to look for hand outs in the form of PreK and not PG schools. They got priced out, they should pull up camp and take their kids and their churches and leave this part of the city that we bought and paid for."