Going to School in a Different District

[Anonymous]

Since I pay ridiculously high property taxes to Fairfax County, my children should be able to access any FCPS program not offered at their base school if space is available elsewhere. No questions asked. After all, my taxes are used to support schools countywide.

All FCPS high schools should offer the same programs, classes, and extracurricular activities but they do not. Each high school or secondary school seems to operate independently with little similarity among them.

Expecting someone to move in order to access classes offered by another FCPS school is ridiculous. People choose where to live for many reasons, and school is only one of them.

FCPS needs to allow transfers at will, or make sure they provide the same classes and opportunities at all of their schools. That would be most equitable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"I'm a person of low character and I want to cheat and teach my child to be a cheater. What do you think, DCUM?"

Why is this cheating? In many cases pupil placement is now full due to FCPS's own mismanagement, and so we have lost our right to request a pupil placement. Why must I be penalized and lose that fair privilege to pupil place just because we're aging into the HS age at a later time than people who pupil placed before us? It's not fair that we have lost this opportunity.

Why shouldn’t everyone at the title 1 school get to go to a wealthier school, under that logic? Why are you special?

+1 Poors need to stay in schools for poors. FCPS spent a lot of effort drawing lines to avoid mixing.

OP isn’t poor. They would rather have multiple rental properties than send their kid to a school they deem good in a legal manner. There are lots of families at title 1 schools who would love to send their kids to a wealthy school but they can’t and don’t try to bend the rules like OP is.

If OP could afford to live in one of their houses in a better district and rent out their house in the worst district, they would.

If OP can afford to own multiple houses in NoVa they can afford to live full-time in the one in the better school district. This isn’t some low-income family. OP should sell the properties they can’t afford if need be.

+1. This is what we did and if I find out someone is participating in residency fraud in my overcrowded pyramid I will be the first to rat on them.

How do you expect to find out and rat one someone? Teens with their attention spans don't care about any of this. I tell my kid to tell anyone who asks that he transferred there because his relative works at the school doing IT. That's literally the end of their conversations.

Bet you'll also tell your high schooler, when the time comes, that it's fine to lie, "fudge" and pad on his or her college applications, too. Maybe have that "relative in IT" write some recommendation letters.

Yep. Way to show your kid that it's okay if he lies to you and that being unethical is okay in your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since I pay ridiculously high property taxes to Fairfax County, my children should be able to access any FCPS program not offered at their base school if space is available elsewhere. No questions asked. After all, my taxes are used to support schools countywide.

All FCPS high schools should offer the same programs, classes, and extracurricular activities but they do not. Each high school or secondary school seems to operate independently with little similarity among them.

Expecting someone to move in order to access classes offered by another FCPS school is ridiculous. People choose where to live for many reasons, and school is only one of them.

FCPS needs to allow transfers at will, or make sure they provide the same classes and opportunities at all of their schools. That would be most equitable.

you pay the taxes on your residence. Your renters pay the tax on your rentals through their rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know two families that are doing/have done this. Wealthy families who wanted their kids to play at better HS sports teams in the hopes of recruitment. Both have rental properties.

They changed their address to one of the rental properties, as well as on bills, etc. I have no knowledge of whether they slept there at all, much less 51% of the time. They drove their kid to school and, to be honest, it was actually easier as the new HS (it was the same in both cases) is closer to where their real homes are. Boundaries make our base HS kind of a pain (for us too).

Everyone knew this was going on. No one ratted them out, as far as I know. And they covered all their bases with putting hte rental address on all the appropriate bills, paperwork. One graduated and the other is still in HS so we'll see.

It can be done. And while I generally don't like cheating I also feel like we are in an era of "every man for himself" so . . . others do it. And if it is not this, it's something else. I'd consider it if I had the option.

Great lesson to teach your kids.

I don't need a lecture and, frankly, don't care. MYOB.

You and your kind are what’s wrong with the world.

I let my housekeeper use my address so that their kids can attend Langley HS instead of Annandale HS.  I don't see anything wrong with that.

There are upfront, legal ways to go to another pyramid school or to another public school system. Weird how DCUM often goes to the shadowy ways of making this happen. If a child’s primary afterschool caregiver (eg, baby sitter) is outside the pyramid, you can apply to go there but you must apply each year. Wby risk doing it stealthily when the chances of being caught will result in your kid getting the boot????

I was in our ES school office when a student whose had moved to MARYLAND came to school late. When asked why, the student unwittingly outted the family by saying traffic on 495 was really bad. It was an immediate red flag along with other details. Hopefully, the child never knew that they were the one who gave the secret away. What an awful position to put a child in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since I pay ridiculously high property taxes to Fairfax County, my children should be able to access any FCPS program not offered at their base school if space is available elsewhere. No questions asked. After all, my taxes are used to support schools countywide.

All FCPS high schools should offer the same programs, classes, and extracurricular activities but they do not. Each high school or secondary school seems to operate independently with little similarity among them.

Expecting someone to move in order to access classes offered by another FCPS school is ridiculous. People choose where to live for many reasons, and school is only one of them.

FCPS needs to allow transfers at will, or make sure they provide the same classes and opportunities at all of their schools. That would be most equitable.

No you don’t. Nowhere around here has “ridiculously high property taxes.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know two families that are doing/have done this. Wealthy families who wanted their kids to play at better HS sports teams in the hopes of recruitment. Both have rental properties.

They changed their address to one of the rental properties, as well as on bills, etc. I have no knowledge of whether they slept there at all, much less 51% of the time. They drove their kid to school and, to be honest, it was actually easier as the new HS (it was the same in both cases) is closer to where their real homes are. Boundaries make our base HS kind of a pain (for us too).

Everyone knew this was going on. No one ratted them out, as far as I know. And they covered all their bases with putting hte rental address on all the appropriate bills, paperwork. One graduated and the other is still in HS so we'll see.

It can be done. And while I generally don't like cheating I also feel like we are in an era of "every man for himself" so . . . others do it. And if it is not this, it's something else. I'd consider it if I had the option.

Great lesson to teach your kids.

I don't need a lecture and, frankly, don't care. MYOB.

You and your kind are what’s wrong with the world.

Whatever makes you feel superior . . . you have cheated something at some time in your life. Even if you don't admit it.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you have a lot of resources. If you are not able to pupil place, either sell or rent your current house and go about registering in the school pyramid you think is going to be better for your kids the right way—with the rental lease or deed for where you all sleep at night.

On one hand parents go outside their neighborhood schools thinking the grass is greener; then they complain when their kids don’t really know any other kids in the neighborhood. SMH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know two families that are doing/have done this. Wealthy families who wanted their kids to play at better HS sports teams in the hopes of recruitment. Both have rental properties.

They changed their address to one of the rental properties, as well as on bills, etc. I have no knowledge of whether they slept there at all, much less 51% of the time. They drove their kid to school and, to be honest, it was actually easier as the new HS (it was the same in both cases) is closer to where their real homes are. Boundaries make our base HS kind of a pain (for us too).

Everyone knew this was going on. No one ratted them out, as far as I know. And they covered all their bases with putting hte rental address on all the appropriate bills, paperwork. One graduated and the other is still in HS so we'll see.

It can be done. And while I generally don't like cheating I also feel like we are in an era of "every man for himself" so . . . others do it. And if it is not this, it's something else. I'd consider it if I had the option.

Great lesson to teach your kids.

I don't need a lecture and, frankly, don't care. MYOB.

You and your kind are what’s wrong with the world.

I let my housekeeper use my address so that their kids can attend Langley HS instead of Annandale HS.  I don't see anything wrong with that.

There are upfront, legal ways to go to another pyramid school or to another public school system. Weird how DCUM often goes to the shadowy ways of making this happen. If a child’s primary afterschool caregiver (eg, baby sitter) is outside the pyramid, you can apply to go there but you must apply each year. Wby risk doing it stealthily when the chances of being caught will result in your kid getting the boot????

I was in our ES school office when a student whose had moved to MARYLAND came to school late. When asked why, the student unwittingly outted the family by saying traffic on 495 was really bad. It was an immediate red flag along with other details. Hopefully, the child never knew that they were the one who gave the secret away. What an awful position to put a child in.

What we keep repeating is falling on deaf ears. The most common "legal" way is to pupil place for specific classes or languages. But that is no longer an option at many schools due to overcrowding. That option is being taken away for many of us around the county.

My neighbors were able to pupil place their kids to another pyramid when their kids went through HS some years ago. Now I can't pupil place at that same pyramid because it's closed to transfers. That's the definition of inequality.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of liars on here. Do you have a good relationship with your renters? Take $100 off their rent and use their address and have them let you know when there is school mail. Change your drivers license to the same address.

To register for school you will need your plat or mortgage paperwork and then they will never ever ask for prof again.

Or use the grandparents. Do the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of liars on here. Do you have a good relationship with your renters? Take $100 off their rent and use their address and have them let you know when there is school mail. Change your drivers license to the same address.

To register for school you will need your plat or mortgage paperwork and then they will never ever ask for prof again.

Or use the grandparents. Do the same thing.

Bad Advice. OP is rich. OP can use their resources to find a legit option for kids to attend the better school rather than make their kids lie about their home address or commute or keep school kids away from home.

OP keep it simple and have some integrity for your kids sake.

[Anonymous]

If your child is well behaved and quiet, no one will know or fight it. But if a child is an issue and anything comes up, admin will report it to the attendance office and an investigation will happen. We have had kids moved out of our school.

But there are also so many kids with false addresses and no one knows. And the attendance office is overwhelmed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can I use the grandparent's house? For example, grand parents can pick the kid up after school but the kid doesn't sleep there?

No! Getting picked up by grandparents does not establish residency for school enrollment purposes. It’s based on where the child lives and sleepers at night.

I thought you were allowed to do this if grandparents provide daycare for you to work? But only up to a certain age. Is that not right?

[Anonymous]

We have a family in our neighborhood who has been doing this for years, even after they moved to a larger house in a lower school zone and after the grandparent sold the house to a family with kids.

It rubs me the wrong way, but it does appear to have worked as it has been going on for years and the kid is close to graduation now.

I think as long as no one reports you, fcps is too big to care to catch this based on my observations.

Our high school is over capacity, so I think that if there is talk of rezoning many people will report these kinds of violations.

FCPS should require a current utility bill in a parent's name to register each year. This might fix some of the high school overcrowding at some schools and under enrollment at others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know two families that are doing/have done this. Wealthy families who wanted their kids to play at better HS sports teams in the hopes of recruitment. Both have rental properties.

They changed their address to one of the rental properties, as well as on bills, etc. I have no knowledge of whether they slept there at all, much less 51% of the time. They drove their kid to school and, to be honest, it was actually easier as the new HS (it was the same in both cases) is closer to where their real homes are. Boundaries make our base HS kind of a pain (for us too).

Everyone knew this was going on. No one ratted them out, as far as I know. And they covered all their bases with putting hte rental address on all the appropriate bills, paperwork. One graduated and the other is still in HS so we'll see.

It can be done. And while I generally don't like cheating I also feel like we are in an era of "every man for himself" so . . . others do it. And if it is not this, it's something else. I'd consider it if I had the option.

Great lesson to teach your kids.

I don't need a lecture and, frankly, don't care. MYOB.

You and your kind are what’s wrong with the world.

I let my housekeeper use my address so that their kids can attend Langley HS instead of Annandale HS.  I don't see anything wrong with that.

There are upfront, legal ways to go to another pyramid school or to another public school system. Weird how DCUM often goes to the shadowy ways of making this happen. If a child’s primary afterschool caregiver (eg, baby sitter) is outside the pyramid, you can apply to go there but you must apply each year. Wby risk doing it stealthily when the chances of being caught will result in your kid getting the boot????

I was in our ES school office when a student whose had moved to MARYLAND came to school late. When asked why, the student unwittingly outted the family by saying traffic on 495 was really bad. It was an immediate red flag along with other details. Hopefully, the child never knew that they were the one who gave the secret away. What an awful position to put a child in.

What we keep repeating is falling on deaf ears. The most common "legal" way is to pupil place for specific classes or languages. But that is no longer an option at many schools due to overcrowding. That option is being taken away for many of us around the county.

My neighbors were able to pupil place their kids to another pyramid when their kids went through HS some years ago. Now I can't pupil place at that same pyramid because it's closed to transfers. That's the definition of inequality.

What you describe is not "inequality"

It is someone trying to get a bigger house for less money by buying in a lower performing school zone, then getting transferred into a better school to avoid paying that premium.

Being told no transfers is NOT inequality. It is the natural consequence of making a conscious decision to buy a bigger house for less money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know two families that are doing/have done this. Wealthy families who wanted their kids to play at better HS sports teams in the hopes of recruitment. Both have rental properties.

They changed their address to one of the rental properties, as well as on bills, etc. I have no knowledge of whether they slept there at all, much less 51% of the time. They drove their kid to school and, to be honest, it was actually easier as the new HS (it was the same in both cases) is closer to where their real homes are. Boundaries make our base HS kind of a pain (for us too).

Everyone knew this was going on. No one ratted them out, as far as I know. And they covered all their bases with putting hte rental address on all the appropriate bills, paperwork. One graduated and the other is still in HS so we'll see.

It can be done. And while I generally don't like cheating I also feel like we are in an era of "every man for himself" so . . . others do it. And if it is not this, it's something else. I'd consider it if I had the option.

I would do the same thing, OP. Actually, I would move (break the lease of one renter). Maybe there are reasons why you couldn't do this before, such as commute and more rental income, but it would really make it easier for your children's school situation.

I created a similar thread for MCPS and was predictably hounded by mentally rigid posters. Morally, I do not believe either of us are in the wrong. At all.