Can we get a district wide residency check of all FCPS high schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

[Anonymous]

Another fact to enter in the discussion is that there is a big difference between AP schools and IB schools. People are usually granted permission to transfer if they want either of these and their base school does not offer it. In addition for years good student athletes can apply to attend a school that offers something their base does not such as Italian.

The benefit for teachers to pupil place is something that needs to be kept. All of them are Fairfax County residence and it makes sense to have them attend school close to where they work, especially in the early years. Then again, if they have neighborhood friend groups, it might not be such a great idea.

There actually used to be a more rigorous check on residency, but that was abandoned about 10 years ago. I know for a fact that when one sends a mailing out to all students that a number of these come back addressed not found. There used to be something done about that, but not any longer.

We also know that the metro stop near Oakton high school attracts many from the district and Maryland to attend that particular high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

The mail check isn’t for you to return. The post office will return it to sender if no one by that name lives at that address or if a forwarding request has expired. It doesn’t catch everyone, but it is a good first step.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

The mail check isn’t for you to return. The post office will return it to sender if no one by that name lives at that address or if a forwarding request has expired. It doesn’t catch everyone, but it is a good first step.

The first poster said this: We send letters to our families that need to be returned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

It’s marked on the envelope to return to sender if the person addressed to doesn’t live there.

FCPS requires all schools to do a mailing with that specific envelope by December 1. We send out a letter with a flier in it about something like parent conferences or an upcoming event. Within a few weeks, we get the mail back for anyone who doesn’t live at the address in SIS, at least according to the post office. Then we contact the family and tell them to come in with proof of residency or their child/ren will be unenrolled within a few days.

It one of several ways we can catch families who do not live in our catchment area. Those families are told to register at their neighborhood school. And sometimes we come to learn that they don’t live in FCPS.

—an FCPS administrator

[Anonymous]

The number of Maryland tags parading through the Edison kiss and ride line on a daily basis is outrageous, all coning over the bridge from PG County for a free FCPS education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The number of Maryland tags parading through the Edison kiss and ride line on a daily basis is outrageous, all coning over the bridge from PG County for a free FCPS education.

Same thing in Western Fairfax, except it's kids coming in from Manassas and Sterling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

The mail check isn’t for you to return. The post office will return it to sender if no one by that name lives at that address or if a forwarding request has expired. It doesn’t catch everyone, but it is a good first step.

You drastically overestimate the efficiency of the post office.

What you describe simply is not a thing in FCPS and you know it. There is no need to make up things to justify people cheating on residency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

It’s marked on the envelope to return to sender if the person addressed to doesn’t live there.

FCPS requires all schools to do a mailing with that specific envelope by December 1. We send out a letter with a flier in it about something like parent conferences or an upcoming event. Within a few weeks, we get the mail back for anyone who doesn’t live at the address in SIS, at least according to the post office. Then we contact the family and tell them to come in with proof of residency or their child/ren will be unenrolled within a few days.

It one of several ways we can catch families who do not live in our catchment area. Those families are told to register at their neighborhood school. And sometimes we come to learn that they don’t live in FCPS.

—an FCPS administrator

I can see it is an attempt but as you can see by mine and the other post, these letters and others are likely being delivered and people are tossing them. No one checks addresses and names that carefully anymore. We get our neighbors mail, people down the street, sometimes ours is not delivered. You can’t rely on the USPS for anything anymore. Our car registration went missing for weeks recently and we only knew it was supposed to come because of informed delivery. It showed up a month late. We’ve had bills show up on the scan and never arrive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

It’s marked on the envelope to return to sender if the person addressed to doesn’t live there.

FCPS requires all schools to do a mailing with that specific envelope by December 1. We send out a letter with a flier in it about something like parent conferences or an upcoming event. Within a few weeks, we get the mail back for anyone who doesn’t live at the address in SIS, at least according to the post office. Then we contact the family and tell them to come in with proof of residency or their child/ren will be unenrolled within a few days.

It one of several ways we can catch families who do not live in our catchment area. Those families are told to register at their neighborhood school. And sometimes we come to learn that they don’t live in FCPS.

—an FCPS administrator

I can see it is an attempt but as you can see by mine and the other post, these letters and others are likely being delivered and people are tossing them. No one checks addresses and names that carefully anymore. We get our neighbors mail, people down the street, sometimes ours is not delivered. You can’t rely on the USPS for anything anymore. Our car registration went missing for weeks recently and we only knew it was supposed to come because of informed delivery. It showed up a month late. We’ve had bills show up on the scan and never arrive.

Of course. That’s why you’ll see in the last paragraph I noted it’s ONE of the ways we catch families who live in the catchment area. It’s not the sole method of determining bona fide residency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

It’s not asking for you to return it. FCPS waits to see if it’s returned by either the US postal system or the current resident..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

It’s marked on the envelope to return to sender if the person addressed to doesn’t live there.

FCPS requires all schools to do a mailing with that specific envelope by December 1. We send out a letter with a flier in it about something like parent conferences or an upcoming event. Within a few weeks, we get the mail back for anyone who doesn’t live at the address in SIS, at least according to the post office. Then we contact the family and tell them to come in with proof of residency or their child/ren will be unenrolled within a few days.

It one of several ways we can catch families who do not live in our catchment area. Those families are told to register at their neighborhood school. And sometimes we come to learn that they don’t live in FCPS.

—an FCPS administrator

I can see it is an attempt but as you can see by mine and the other post, these letters and others are likely being delivered and people are tossing them. No one checks addresses and names that carefully anymore. We get our neighbors mail, people down the street, sometimes ours is not delivered. You can’t rely on the USPS for anything anymore. Our car registration went missing for weeks recently and we only knew it was supposed to come because of informed delivery. It showed up a month late. We’ve had bills show up on the scan and never arrive.

Of course. That’s why you’ll see in the last paragraph I noted it’s ONE of the ways we catch families who live in the catchment area. It’s not the sole method of determining bona fide residency.

DP. What are the other methods?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

The mail check isn’t for you to return. The post office will return it to sender if no one by that name lives at that address or if a forwarding request has expired. It doesn’t catch everyone, but it is a good first step.

You drastically overestimate the efficiency of the post office.

What you describe simply is not a thing in FCPS and you know it. There is no need to make up things to justify people cheating on residency.

It may not be the best system in the world, but it’s not a lie or being made up. It does happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

It’s marked on the envelope to return to sender if the person addressed to doesn’t live there.

FCPS requires all schools to do a mailing with that specific envelope by December 1. We send out a letter with a flier in it about something like parent conferences or an upcoming event. Within a few weeks, we get the mail back for anyone who doesn’t live at the address in SIS, at least according to the post office. Then we contact the family and tell them to come in with proof of residency or their child/ren will be unenrolled within a few days.

It one of several ways we can catch families who do not live in our catchment area. Those families are told to register at their neighborhood school. And sometimes we come to learn that they don’t live in FCPS.

—an FCPS administrator

I can see it is an attempt but as you can see by mine and the other post, these letters and others are likely being delivered and people are tossing them. No one checks addresses and names that carefully anymore. We get our neighbors mail, people down the street, sometimes ours is not delivered. You can’t rely on the USPS for anything anymore. Our car registration went missing for weeks recently and we only knew it was supposed to come because of informed delivery. It showed up a month late. We’ve had bills show up on the scan and never arrive.

Of course. That’s why you’ll see in the last paragraph I noted it’s ONE of the ways we catch families who live in the catchment area. It’s not the sole method of determining bona fide residency.

DP. What are the other methods?

Basic “detective” work:

-Regular review of tardies
-Kids saying that they moved or live in MD or “far away”
-Kids who live right across from the school but get picked up from some random location and dropped off
-Reviewing the leases and see that it expired
-Noting MD tags
-Calling the parent in and having a direct conversation with them that we don’t believe they live here. It actually works more than you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS schools do residency checks each year. We send letters to our families that need to be returned. If the letters “bounce” or are not returned, we know there is something fishy.

Many parents who do this are gaming the system. They own property (a cheap condo or something) in the boundary of the school they want and rent it out. When investigated, they are easily able to produce a mortgage statement. Following up on each of these requires detective work (i.e. following a family home each day) and effectively ruins the relationship with a school and the family. It would need to be an external group with a lot of time and funding.

I have never received such a letter.

It’s just a letter from FCPS. The topic could be anything - assigned teacher, Schoology updates, SB changes, rezoning, etc. it could be a postcard flyer.

Never received one.

Multiple kids, 4 fcps schools.

I think you are making up stuff.

We’ve received mail from FCPS, so you must be the one making it up.

I receive mail from FCPS, but never anything that "needs to be returned." Or if I have, I definitely haven't returned it. I don't expect anything urgent to come through snail mail except maybe jury duty.

It’s marked on the envelope to return to sender if the person addressed to doesn’t live there.

FCPS requires all schools to do a mailing with that specific envelope by December 1. We send out a letter with a flier in it about something like parent conferences or an upcoming event. Within a few weeks, we get the mail back for anyone who doesn’t live at the address in SIS, at least according to the post office. Then we contact the family and tell them to come in with proof of residency or their child/ren will be unenrolled within a few days.

It one of several ways we can catch families who do not live in our catchment area. Those families are told to register at their neighborhood school. And sometimes we come to learn that they don’t live in FCPS.

—an FCPS administrator

I can see it is an attempt but as you can see by mine and the other post, these letters and others are likely being delivered and people are tossing them. No one checks addresses and names that carefully anymore. We get our neighbors mail, people down the street, sometimes ours is not delivered. You can’t rely on the USPS for anything anymore. Our car registration went missing for weeks recently and we only knew it was supposed to come because of informed delivery. It showed up a month late. We’ve had bills show up on the scan and never arrive.

Of course. That’s why you’ll see in the last paragraph I noted it’s ONE of the ways we catch families who live in the catchment area. It’s not the sole method of determining bona fide residency.

DP. What are the other methods?

Basic “detective” work:

-Regular review of tardies
-Kids saying that they moved or live in MD or “far away”
-Kids who live right across from the school but get picked up from some random location and dropped off
-Reviewing the leases and see that it expired
-Noting MD tags
-Calling the parent in and having a direct conversation with them that we don’t believe they live here. It actually works more than you think.

I'm the PP who asked. Thank you. Is this standard FCPS protocol? I'm curious because my school has a lot of the issues you describe and very little seems to be done.