It is really sad when a parent enroll their child/children in DCPS or DCPCS and the live in another state, mostly PG Cty. The schools in PG cty usually have half day or the parents just dont want to spend more money in before/aftercare. DC charge minimal for that service and PG charge more. So parents have fam/ friends, use that address and enroll the children. In most cases the parents let the homeowner/renter put a utility in their name so that they have proof. It saddens me that the lengths folks will go to to keep from paying what they should. I know of cases were its reported but the school brushes it under the carpet and nothing is done. So in a sense its nothing that seem to matter and also there is only a few investigators in DC that is doing this, so cases just sit and sit. Parents need to face more than paying the monies back and maybe this migh deter all the residency fraud. Yes there are folks that bring children to school with out of state plates, since the cheaters know ways around the system they dont care!!!!!

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. I am very, very tired of seeing at least a dozen MD tags (every day, same cars) at the Charter school on my street where my daughter is currently on the waitlist.

DC and PG have a very long, close affinity. The border doesn't feally matter. PG has long been called Ward 9. Marion Barry when he was mayor proposed that they join and become the state of New Columbia. You must be new, and just don't understand the DC way.

Okay you are entitled.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really we are having a semantic discussion because if I believe the only ones "entitled" to a school are those that live in bound, clearly I don't think cheating is okay. Yes I think living in the district makes residents "eligible" for schools other than their in bound school. I think entitled and eligible mean two different things. People living outside the district are neither so clearly they wouldn't qualify.

You are free to disagree, but no I don't think all of this reporting and taking pics of license plates is from some concern over low SES kids being displaced. Did you see the post article some months back where people are hiring educational consultants to help them navigate the lottery process and find them the best odds? Pretty sure poor people aren't using those services. Hope you are also angry at those who are trying to give themselves an edge in the supposedly equitable process.

it is not semantic at all. if a coveted charter has 20 spots for pre-k, and you are a DC resident and get #20 in the lottery, you are entitled to be admitted at that school. by law, nobody can prevent you from being accepted. if you get #21, and one of the admitted 20 kids is a cheater, then you are taken away something you would be entitled to and that you would get if not for the cheating.

forgot to add that rich people can spend $$$$$$$ on consultants, but doing the lottery for DCPS is the easiest thing in the world, same for chartes, most of them you do it online in 3 seconds. there is nothing to navigate and nothing that a consultant can do to make your odds better. so poor people have the same odds than the rich people who paid whoever. the real difference is that if you are shut out and have means, you can easily go private or move, if you can't you are stuck. so when somebody screw the systems, the weakest are the ones paying the higher price.

Anonymous wrote:Really we are having a semantic discussion because if I believe the only ones "entitled" to a school are those that live in bound, clearly I don't think cheating is okay. Yes I think living in the district makes residents "eligible" for schools other than their in bound school. I think entitled and eligible mean two different things. People living outside the district are neither so clearly they wouldn't qualify.

You are free to disagree, but no I don't think all of this reporting and taking pics of license plates is from some concern over low SES kids being displaced. Did you see the post article some months back where people are hiring educational consultants to help them navigate the lottery process and find them the best odds? Pretty sure poor people aren't using those services. Hope you are also angry at those who are trying to give themselves an edge in the supposedly equitable process.

it is not semantic at all. if a coveted charter has 20 spots for pre-k, and you are a DC resident and get #20 in the lottery, you are entitled to be admitted at that school. by law, nobody can prevent you from being accepted. if you get #21, and one of the admitted 20 kids is a cheater, then you are taken away something you would be entitled to and that you would get if not for the cheating.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really we are having a semantic discussion because if I believe the only ones "entitled" to a school are those that live in bound, clearly I don't think cheating is okay. Yes I think living in the district makes residents "eligible" for schools other than their in bound school. I think entitled and eligible mean two different things. People living outside the district are neither so clearly they wouldn't qualify.

You are free to disagree, but no I don't think all of this reporting and taking pics of license plates is from some concern over low SES kids being displaced. Did you see the post article some months back where people are hiring educational consultants to help them navigate the lottery process and find them the best odds? Pretty sure poor people aren't using those services. Hope you are also angry at those who are trying to give themselves an edge in the supposedly equitable process.

As a DC resident and taxpayer, it annoys me to see services stolen. There are lots of better ways we could spend our money than on scofflaws. And, yes, there are some cheater-filled schools that are not coveted by DCUM, but still would represent a big step up for low-SES kids.

other DC tax payer here. and I would add that if there are not coveted schools with significant number of cheaters (and I found some mentioned on DCUM in the past), it would still be great to kick the cheaters out. the schools would be underenrolled and could be closed (and this is why the schools themselves close both eyes, since they know that without the cheaters they would risk their jobs), and the money saved could be better used for DC kids.

Anonymous wrote:Really we are having a semantic discussion because if I believe the only ones "entitled" to a school are those that live in bound, clearly I don't think cheating is okay. Yes I think living in the district makes residents "eligible" for schools other than their in bound school. I think entitled and eligible mean two different things. People living outside the district are neither so clearly they wouldn't qualify.

You are free to disagree, but no I don't think all of this reporting and taking pics of license plates is from some concern over low SES kids being displaced. Did you see the post article some months back where people are hiring educational consultants to help them navigate the lottery process and find them the best odds? Pretty sure poor people aren't using those services. Hope you are also angry at those who are trying to give themselves an edge in the supposedly equitable process.

As a DC resident and taxpayer, it annoys me to see services stolen. There are lots of better ways we could spend our money than on scofflaws. And, yes, there are some cheater-filled schools that are not coveted by DCUM, but still would represent a big step up for low-SES kids.

Actually that was the link I looked at previously. If you scroll to the bottom there is the actual report that indicates the number of cases or open investigations. For stokes there were five cases, only one was closed that verified fraud. The others were still pending as of the date of the article.

Really we are having a semantic discussion because if I believe the only ones "entitled" to a school are those that live in bound, clearly I don't think cheating is okay. Yes I think living in the district makes residents "eligible" for schools other than their in bound school. I think entitled and eligible mean two different things. People living outside the district are neither so clearly they wouldn't qualify.

You are free to disagree, but no I don't think all of this reporting and taking pics of license plates is from some concern over low SES kids being displaced. Did you see the post article some months back where people are hiring educational consultants to help them navigate the lottery process and find them the best odds? Pretty sure poor people aren't using those services. Hope you are also angry at those who are trying to give themselves an edge in the supposedly equitable process.

Anonymous wrote:The only article I can find indicates that Stokes had 5-6 cases under investigation and one confirmation that there was a nonresident student. Maybe there is more recent information you can point me to? Either way it was not meant to be flippant, but I do view people that are in-boundary to be "entitled" to a spot. I do distinguish that from DC residents that have options and choose not to pursue them because they want something they perceive to be better. While I understand the motivation, I don't think you are entitled to a school you are not zoned for. I am assuming for the charter situations that there is more going on than people winning the lottery under a fake address, and that should be looked into. But at the administrative level, not by random people with a camera phone. And lets be real here, this fury over residency fraud isn't because of the low SES kids being misplaced.

My anger over all kids being misplaced is very real. My middle class kid didn't get a slot and since I live in an area with lots of low SES families, they're kids got shafted too. It's a lose lose for all DC kids when residency cheaters invade our schools.

Yes, I think part of the problem is that people think this is a victimless crime somehow. Fraud is fraud, even when it involves innocent children. I also would like to see some stiff penalties that would become a real deterrent, so that the kids are not caught up in their parents' mistakes.

http://www.ward5heartbeat.org/news/local-public-schools-found-to-have-non-d-c-residents-enrolled/

sorry, forgot to attach the link to the article

Anonymous wrote:The only article I can find indicates that Stokes had 5-6 cases under investigation and one confirmation that there was a nonresident student. Maybe there is more recent information you can point me to? Either way it was not meant to be flippant, but I do view people that are in-boundary to be "entitled" to a spot. I do distinguish that from DC residents that have options and choose not to pursue them because they want something they perceive to be better. While I understand the motivation, I don't think you are entitled to a school you are not zoned for. I am assuming for the charter situations that there is more going on than people winning the lottery under a fake address, and that should be looked into. But at the administrative level, not by random people with a camera phone. And lets be real here, this fury over residency fraud isn't because of the low SES kids being misplaced.

see this article for some numbers. based on the article the cheaters found (not just investigated) at Stokes were 5. of the 16 investigations concluded by the Charter Board, 12 kids were found to be residency cheaters. so three quarters of the concluded investigations found residency fraud.

I think you are really wrong when you don't understand that cheaters take away from DC kids the education they are entitled to. YY gives kids in DC the opportunity for Chinese full immersion. if I apply and end up on the waitlist and the kids admitted are DC residents, too bad, we all play by the rules, they won the lottery and I did not. but if one of the kids admitted is a cheater living in VA and I am a DC resident and the first child on the wailits, than the cheater is taking away from me an education I am entitled to and the cheater is not. charters with a waitlist are usually good schools and in some cases offer unique opportunities (I am thinking of all language immersion). so cheaters do take away education opportunities to DC residents, opportunities the DC residents are entitled because 1) they are DC residents and 2) they would have won a lottery spot if the cheater was not there.



and you are wrong on the last point too, I am very real here and my kids are happy in their high performing IB school (we are fortunate enough to be able to move IB for a great school) and are not displaced by anybody, but I am still definitely against cheaters and think it is a problem DCPS and the Charter Board should take seriously. in the first place, I think every single time a cheater is found, the parents or guardians shuld be billed for the tuition and should force to pay it, even in installment. now when a cheater is found, the child is simply kicked out of school, but the parents are not forced to pay. so cheaters know that even if they are found, there are no consequences other than having to go back to their state. if DCPS and the Charter Board started really billing people for back tuition and take people to court to get the money, that would make a difference.

The only article I can find indicates that Stokes had 5-6 cases under investigation and one confirmation that there was a nonresident student. Maybe there is more recent information you can point me to? Either way it was not meant to be flippant, but I do view people that are in-boundary to be "entitled" to a spot. I do distinguish that from DC residents that have options and choose not to pursue them because they want something they perceive to be better. While I understand the motivation, I don't think you are entitled to a school you are not zoned for. I am assuming for the charter situations that there is more going on than people winning the lottery under a fake address, and that should be looked into. But at the administrative level, not by random people with a camera phone. And lets be real here, this fury over residency fraud isn't because of the low SES kids being misplaced.

Trashy no...but temperamental yes. It is the risk one takes on both sides.