In-bounds verification

[Anonymous]

no, you certify as follows: “I understand that if I provide false information or documentation, I can be referred to DC Office of the Inspector General for criminal prosecution or to the DC Office of the Attorney General for prosecution under the False Claims Act and under DC Code § 38-312 which provides that any person who knowingly supplies false information to a public official in connection with student residency verification shall be subject to payment of a fine of not more than $2,000 or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, but not both a fine and imprisonment.”

Your argument that “address” on the form means “just any address I own property in the District but don’t actually reside in” is pretty laughable. Good luck with that.


Laughable to you, practical to others. The truth is that nobody with an ounce of discretion needs any luck with it. The reality is that nobody's being fined or imprisoned for school boundary cheating in the District. For whatever reasons, de facto DCPS doesn't go at "boundary cheaters" per the DCUM definition. They either don't have the resources to go at parents using residential properties they don't reside in for school enrollment, haven't made catching these parents a priority or both. DCPS isn't the FBI. In a nutshell, if the owner parents aren't renting to a family also using the property for school enrollment, or perhaps clashing with a tenant in DC Landlord-Tenant Court over rental of a property they're using for school enrollment, the DCPS residency fraud investors don't take the cases, don't get involved. No need for any argument, just an understanding of how things work. Maybe things will change on the boundary cheating front for DCPS one day, but they certainly haven't yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

[Anonymous]

yes it is “oh so practical” to lie to get a government benefit, because you believe you will “never get caught.” gl dummy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

yep. I love all the people on here who seem to think the law has never encountered the issue of establishing residency or domicile and that DC has no interest in ensuring the listed address is where the child actually lives. the main point is in fact to prove that the child *lives in* DC so if you are not listing the address where the child actually lives, that’s a problem for both DC and boundary verification. once they find out you don’t live at the address you listed, what do you think will happen?

but fwiw DC is actually clear that in the case of split custody all you have to do is show one parent’s residency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

yep. I love all the people on here who seem to think the law has never encountered the issue of establishing residency or domicile and that DC has no interest in ensuring the listed address is where the child actually lives. the main point is in fact to prove that the child *lives in* DC so if you are not listing the address where the child actually lives, that’s a problem for both DC and boundary verification. once they find out you don’t live at the address you listed, what do you think will happen?

but fwiw DC is actually clear that in the case of split custody all you have to do is show one parent’s residency.

If you don't live at the address you listed but own it, what you do if you "they find out" is to make it look like you indeed live at the enrollment. You plan ahead. It's your property, so you put a bunch of residency docs in your name far in advance and have associated mail sent to the property for you to collect there, everything from your driver's license to your voter and car registration to your DC withholding/tax returns. If you're on the ball, you prepare for a snap home inspection by DCPS at the enrollment property, with your family photos, furniture and stuff in the place. Just not that hard to do if you own the property, even if you rent it out on the sly. Again, DCPS isn't the FBI and doesn't like to get involved where at least one of the parents owns the place and it isn't obviously rented out year round. The point is that UMC boundary cheaters with savvy are hard to catch absent a major investment on the part of a municipality that DC isn't making. Catching boundary cheater is a low priority issue in a city with much bigger fish to fry in the ed domain. Sorry, but your disdain for immoral cheaters won't change that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

yep. I love all the people on here who seem to think the law has never encountered the issue of establishing residency or domicile and that DC has no interest in ensuring the listed address is where the child actually lives. the main point is in fact to prove that the child *lives in* DC so if you are not listing the address where the child actually lives, that’s a problem for both DC and boundary verification. once they find out you don’t live at the address you listed, what do you think will happen?

but fwiw DC is actually clear that in the case of split custody all you have to do is show one parent’s residency.

If you don't live at the address you listed but own it, what you do if you "they find out" is to make it look like you indeed live at the enrollment. You plan ahead. It's your property, so you put a bunch of residency docs in your name far in advance and have associated mail sent to the property for you to collect there, everything from your driver's license to your voter and car registration to your DC withholding/tax returns. If you're on the ball, you prepare for a snap home inspection by DCPS at the enrollment property, with your family photos, furniture and stuff in the place. Just not that hard to do if you own the property, even if you rent it out on the sly. Again, DCPS isn't the FBI and doesn't like to get involved where at least one of the parents owns the place and it isn't obviously rented out year round. The point is that UMC boundary cheaters with savvy are hard to catch absent a major investment on the part of a municipality that DC isn't making. Catching boundary cheater is a low priority issue in a city with much bigger fish to fry in the ed domain. Sorry, but your disdain for immoral cheaters won't change that.

Wow! This seems like a lot of effort just to be able to illegitimately send a kid to one DCPS school instead of another DCPS school.

Tell me, which property would one claim as their homestead for purposes of DC property taxes in this situation?

[Anonymous]

We've lived in Ward 6 for 25 years and know half a dozen families who've done this sort of thing for access to Brent, Maury and/or Stuart Hobson. They started out in 1 or 2-BR houses in-bounds for those schools (now rentals), then moved to larger houses IB for schools with few or no high SES families in the upper ES grades or MS. It's easy to say, "what a hassle!" from Upper NW, where there are a bunch of high-performing neighborhood elementary schools and Deal. Everybody family in Ward 6 without access to a decent by-right ES doesn't want to to go private, move to the burbs or go charter (mainly due to hassle-filled charter commutes in bad traffic).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

yep. I love all the people on here who seem to think the law has never encountered the issue of establishing residency or domicile and that DC has no interest in ensuring the listed address is where the child actually lives. the main point is in fact to prove that the child *lives in* DC so if you are not listing the address where the child actually lives, that’s a problem for both DC and boundary verification. once they find out you don’t live at the address you listed, what do you think will happen?

but fwiw DC is actually clear that in the case of split custody all you have to do is show one parent’s residency.

If you don't live at the address you listed but own it, what you do if you "they find out" is to make it look like you indeed live at the enrollment. You plan ahead. It's your property, so you put a bunch of residency docs in your name far in advance and have associated mail sent to the property for you to collect there, everything from your driver's license to your voter and car registration to your DC withholding/tax returns. If you're on the ball, you prepare for a snap home inspection by DCPS at the enrollment property, with your family photos, furniture and stuff in the place. Just not that hard to do if you own the property, even if you rent it out on the sly. Again, DCPS isn't the FBI and doesn't like to get involved where at least one of the parents owns the place and it isn't obviously rented out year round. The point is that UMC boundary cheaters with savvy are hard to catch absent a major investment on the part of a municipality that DC isn't making. Catching boundary cheater is a low priority issue in a city with much bigger fish to fry in the ed domain. Sorry, but your disdain for immoral cheaters won't change that.

Wow! This seems like a lot of effort just to be able to illegitimately send a kid to one DCPS school instead of another DCPS school.

Tell me, which property would one claim as their homestead for purposes of DC property taxes in this situation?

As somebody pointed out, safest to claim neither. Cheaper than private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've lived in Ward 6 for 25 years and know half a dozen families who've done this sort of thing for access to Brent, Maury and/or Stuart Hobson. They started out in 1 or 2-BR houses in-bounds for those schools (now rentals), then moved to larger houses IB for schools with few or no high SES families in the upper ES grades or MS. It's easy to say, "what a hassle!" from Upper NW, where there are a bunch of high-performing neighborhood elementary schools and Deal. Everybody family in Ward 6 without access to a decent by-right ES doesn't want to to go private, move to the burbs or go charter (mainly due to hassle-filled charter commutes in bad traffic).

If they actually lived in the prior house then moved, then their kids can continue at their current school through the last grade there. But that’s not what we’re talking about.

We’re talking about someone owning an empty, unrented house, providing false information on government forms, and risking getting caught. I’m sorry, but the incremental difference between any two public schools within Ward 6 is not worth that trouble. And I say this as someone who lives in Ward 6 and not in the zones for any of the schools you listed.

[Anonymous]

Who knows where the family actually lived when they enrolled their kids or for how long if they own multiple DC residential properties, or to whom they've rented to and when. This is a gray area where school enrollment goes. Stupid issue. You're telling these families that it's not worth the risk. They think differently. Nothing you can do about it. Move on.

[Anonymous]

In the scenario discussed above — in which someone is knowingly using a false address for voter registration, driver’s license, income taxes, etc. — all so that they can send their kid to a school outside the zone in which they live, there is no “gray area.”

[Anonymous]

Which explains why the IRS and DCPS pursue them relentlessly, doggedly charging them, arresting them, trying them in courts of law, fining them, even incarcerating them. Boundary cheater beware.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

yep. I love all the people on here who seem to think the law has never encountered the issue of establishing residency or domicile and that DC has no interest in ensuring the listed address is where the child actually lives. the main point is in fact to prove that the child *lives in* DC so if you are not listing the address where the child actually lives, that’s a problem for both DC and boundary verification. once they find out you don’t live at the address you listed, what do you think will happen?

but fwiw DC is actually clear that in the case of split custody all you have to do is show one parent’s residency.

If you don't live at the address you listed but own it, what you do if you "they find out" is to make it look like you indeed live at the enrollment. You plan ahead. It's your property, so you put a bunch of residency docs in your name far in advance and have associated mail sent to the property for you to collect there, everything from your driver's license to your voter and car registration to your DC withholding/tax returns. If you're on the ball, you prepare for a snap home inspection by DCPS at the enrollment property, with your family photos, furniture and stuff in the place. Just not that hard to do if you own the property, even if you rent it out on the sly. Again, DCPS isn't the FBI and doesn't like to get involved where at least one of the parents owns the place and it isn't obviously rented out year round. The point is that UMC boundary cheaters with savvy are hard to catch absent a major investment on the part of a municipality that DC isn't making. Catching boundary cheater is a low priority issue in a city with much bigger fish to fry in the ed domain. Sorry, but your disdain for immoral cheaters won't change that.

Wow! This seems like a lot of effort just to be able to illegitimately send a kid to one DCPS school instead of another DCPS school.

Tell me, which property would one claim as their homestead for purposes of DC property taxes in this situation?

yes not to mention the concatenation of listing a fake residency for all the other official docs …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've lived in Ward 6 for 25 years and know half a dozen families who've done this sort of thing for access to Brent, Maury and/or Stuart Hobson. They started out in 1 or 2-BR houses in-bounds for those schools (now rentals), then moved to larger houses IB for schools with few or no high SES families in the upper ES grades or MS. It's easy to say, "what a hassle!" from Upper NW, where there are a bunch of high-performing neighborhood elementary schools and Deal. Everybody family in Ward 6 without access to a decent by-right ES doesn't want to to go private, move to the burbs or go charter (mainly due to hassle-filled charter commutes in bad traffic).

DCPS actually permits you to stay in the school until the terminal grade if you move within DC, so what you describe (moving from the house where you started IB) is not fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

yep. I love all the people on here who seem to think the law has never encountered the issue of establishing residency or domicile and that DC has no interest in ensuring the listed address is where the child actually lives. the main point is in fact to prove that the child *lives in* DC so if you are not listing the address where the child actually lives, that’s a problem for both DC and boundary verification. once they find out you don’t live at the address you listed, what do you think will happen?

but fwiw DC is actually clear that in the case of split custody all you have to do is show one parent’s residency.

If you don't live at the address you listed but own it, what you do if you "they find out" is to make it look like you indeed live at the enrollment. You plan ahead. It's your property, so you put a bunch of residency docs in your name far in advance and have associated mail sent to the property for you to collect there, everything from your driver's license to your voter and car registration to your DC withholding/tax returns. If you're on the ball, you prepare for a snap home inspection by DCPS at the enrollment property, with your family photos, furniture and stuff in the place. Just not that hard to do if you own the property, even if you rent it out on the sly. Again, DCPS isn't the FBI and doesn't like to get involved where at least one of the parents owns the place and it isn't obviously rented out year round. The point is that UMC boundary cheaters with savvy are hard to catch absent a major investment on the part of a municipality that DC isn't making. Catching boundary cheater is a low priority issue in a city with much bigger fish to fry in the ed domain. Sorry, but your disdain for immoral cheaters won't change that.

gl with your security clearance with that long list of falsified docs …