AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2007 > August > 30 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USClearing Out Residency Scofflaws
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clayton County has become the latest metro Atlanta school system to crack down on students sneaking across district or county lines. This week, families of every child enrolled in a Clayton public school had to submit two utility bills or other documents as proof of residency.
Clayton spokesman Charles White told me that officials would be checking not only whether students actually live in the county, but also whether they’re attending the right school. He said administrators would begin withdrawing students whose paperwork doesn’t pass muster after Labor Day.
Fulton County Schools also has tightened its residency policies. Families there had to fill out a notarized “Affidavit of Residence” form this year certifying that they lived within the school system’s borders. A press release announcing the new form — which parents will need to complete every year — blamed outsiders who have found “creative ways” to enroll their children in the county’s public schools.
The further crackdown on residency scofflaws in the metro area follows a push last year by Fayette County to prosecute families who had lied about their home addresses to circumvent enrollment requirements. In recent years, Coweta and Henry counties also have taken steps to ensure that only certified residents attend their schools.
Officials in the systems say local tax dollars are being wasted on children who shouldn’t be in their schools. But the state Department of Education pays schools for all students who are enrolled, regardless of where they live.
So tell me: Is this about saving money or is it about saving schools’ reputations?
UPDATE: Eric Stirgus, the AJC’s Clayton County reporter, just sat down with the school system’s interim superintendent today. This is what Gloria Duncan told him about why the residency checks were needed:
“I have worked in the schools many years and one frustrating feeling is [when] a student has a seizure or falls out and you try to reach a parent and all of the telephone numbers are not working. We have to know how to reach the parents.
“Some of our parents have moved two or three times since the last time the information was in our system. If we send out a message on our communications system [and] someone says, ‘I didn’t get it,’ nine times out of 10 you didn’t get it because the numbers we have for you are wrong. And you have people calling us saying: ‘Please stop sending this message. I don’t have any children in Clayton County schools.’
“Another issue is students who don’t live in Clayton County … and [use] false addresses, and that contributes to overcrowding.”
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By yesisamworried
August 30, 2007 8:28 AM | Link to this
Come on Bridgett, you know that the state only pays for about 1/2 the cost of most Metro System’s students.
By jim d
August 30, 2007 8:39 AM | Link to this
We’ve blogged this one to the point of beating a dead horse.
JMHO, but it’s neither it is simply a matter of power and control.
By Terry
August 30, 2007 8:46 AM | Link to this
What a crock—
Brigett— can you do a story about how school systems issue truancy warrants to those parents that EVEN HAVE A MEDICAL EXCUSE? That is the one and only exception to the compulsory attendance rules— and yes - I know these parents.
Let’s get some real stories here
I sent you a story/issue to cover regarding schools retaliating on parents that raise an issue of safety of their children.
Come on!!
By JustMe
August 30, 2007 11:01 AM | Link to this
Can’t believe that any parent wants to cheat to send their kid to Clayton County schools? Okay, I might believe Fulton (North Fulton), but Clayton??????
I agree with others here. We need something real to blog about.
By Tony
August 30, 2007 11:13 AM | Link to this
People who attend schools in another district are stealing from the taxpayers in that district. School systems only get a portion of their funding from the state. The remainder is from local tax dollars. There may be a little federal money in some systems. Crossing the county line to go to school could work if the to systems hammered out an agreement for revenue. That’s when we get to Jim D’s response — power and control.
And yes, there is definitely an NCLB connection involved when it comes to students from another area. It has become difficult enough for schools and systems to meet the needs of their own children without having the burden of children from another district added on top.
Regarding attendance: children who are enrolled in school should be present in school. If you want to home school the children, then do so. Stop making excuses for keeping kids out of school.
By decaturparent
August 30, 2007 11:23 AM | Link to this
Our district has gotten really good at detecting cheaters. It is extremely hard to cheat into Decatur anymore. Parents are very vigilant and turn families in all the time. Why would a parent want to put their kids through that? The kids are forced to lie and 9 times out of 10 they slip up and tell the truth either to a friend or a teacher. Also, the poor kid can’t even have a normal school social life because their “true identity” has to be kept secret. Then they get horribly embarrassed when they are kicked out and their academic year is disrupted by having to transfer mid year with very little notice.
It’s just sad that people are willing to do that to their kids.
I think that we are going to see a lot more prosecutions in the future.
By Janine
August 30, 2007 11:50 AM | Link to this
Do you remember the court case about this last year? THe mother who had registered her child out of her area was put on trial. I think they used the grandparents address. Took the jury about 10 minutes to acquit her. My memory is not that good, but I think she wanted a better school ,and she wanted them to go to their grandmother’s house after school instead of being latchkey kids ….there were other circumstances,too. So if any of these people wanted to pursue it in court, they would probably win.
By Zoe
August 30, 2007 11:57 AM | Link to this
It isn’t the outsiders that are sneaking into Clayton, it is the students zoned for one Clayton school and attending another. Several schools have dozens of trailers while others have none. Our school has already had dozens of kids withdraw to attend the actual Clayton school they are zoned for. We’ve had very few come in from other schools because of residency verification. Once the verification begins, I am sure there are dozens of others that will be placed at their correct schools.
By mmm
August 30, 2007 1:07 PM | Link to this
This is about reputation and trailer avoidance on the part of the individual schools with good reputations.
By DB
August 30, 2007 1:21 PM | Link to this
I can understand why a school that is already scrambling to accomodate overcrowding might be less than enthusiastic at taking on even more kids that don’t even “belong” there in the first place. Is it fair to the kids who actually are zoned to attend that school, and whose parents have probably paid a bit of premium in housing to be in that school’s district, to have to share resources with interlopers?
By V for Vendetta
August 30, 2007 3:31 PM | Link to this
At the “good” school I teach at, this is a constant problem. We deal with an influx of students from, shall we say, undesirable areas, and often times we tend to do very little about it. Choice is great, but until the entire public education system is overhauled, people need to stick with the rules.
Funny thing, most of those students who transfer in to my school’s district end up moving back or dropping out because it’s “too hard.” Imagine that. Of course, that’s after they’ve wasted time and money being discipline problems, classroom disruptions, and overall punk @sses.
By meshal
August 30, 2007 3:37 PM | Link to this
To ‘JustMe’ This is ‘something real’ to comment about. Clayton county have parents who are actually concerned about their children’s education just like parents in the other school systems. Maybe the real problem is that you are Just to STUPID to make an intelligent comment
By JustMe
August 30, 2007 5:06 PM | Link to this
meshal -
Your very own post speaks volumes. You must really be from Clayton Co.
You write: “Clayton county have parents…” It should be: “Clayton County has parents….”
You write: “….you are Just to STUPID…” It should be: “….you are Just too STUPID….”
I am not a grammar police officer, but your errors are what elementary children should be learning in your Clayton County school system.
My point was that why would parents cheat to send their child to a school or school system that scores poorly on most every single metric (EOCT, AYP, CRCT, SAT, etc.)? There is no doubt in my mind that some of the parents living in Clayton County really do care about education. But that has nothing to do with my comment.
Thanks for your input.
By JustMe
August 30, 2007 6:09 PM | Link to this
V for Vendetta: I completely understand because I am in the same boat. Students out of my school’s area constantly want to attend where I teach. But, after being suspended a few days for poor behavior and failing a few tests, they are begging to return to their ‘easy’ school. We are very happy to accommodate their request!
By V for Vendetta
August 31, 2007 8:34 AM | Link to this
JustMe,
Yup. Many people on here are pro choice (so to speak), and I don’t really disagree with that, in theory. The problem is in the reality of the situation. Currently we are NOT pro choice, so these vagrants from other disticts must be dealt with. Also, as I have said before, my child’s education comes before anything. I don’t care if I have to live in a trailer, if it’s in the best school’s district in my area, I’ll do it gladly.
The “good” kids who live out of district, the smart ones, usually have smart parents who find a way for their kids to go to the school LEGALLY. The parents who willingly cheat the system, well, their kids are usually losers, trash, discipline problems, and eventually, they drop out or go back. But not before they leave a black mark on both the school’s educational initiative and financial resources. I’m tired of this topic, but I never grow tired of complaining about it! :-)
By jim d
August 31, 2007 8:51 AM | Link to this
Good mornin Bridget,
Re:reauthorization of NCLB.
Here’s a couple of video clips that might be worthy of blogging on.
Interesting interviews—-note about 17 minutes into this clip the Gerald Bracey interview.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vorv_ZFt0bI
And don’t miss this video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BU-70KfXXzs
By JustMe
August 31, 2007 9:10 AM | Link to this
jim d-
Come on now. You are expecting way too much of Bridget to have a blog on something of substance!
By Lee
August 31, 2007 9:37 AM | Link to this
As long as school districts play games to get the “right mix” of minorities for example (remember the McEachern debacle), I could care less if a parent tries to get their kid into a better school.
Cause vs. effect. The school district focuses on the out of zone student but pays little attention to the poor schools that these students and parents are fleeing from.
On another note, has anybody read the hissy fit Sonny Purdue and House Minority Leader DuBose Porter are engaged in regarding the SAT’s? It’s in today’s AJC. One’s blowing smoke - the other is fanning the flames.
Hey, Captain of the Titanic, you ran into the iceberg, not the other way around. Quit pointing fingers and plug the hole in the side of the educational ship before it sinks any further.
By SET
August 31, 2007 10:24 AM | Link to this
This topic reminded me of things I’d forgot from HS. I went to a “public Ivy” High School that had 3 black families attending at the time. There were outsiders every year who lied about residency to enroll. There weren’t so many at the time. Those that were publicly kicked out - or ran out - were grossly missmatched for the school. Simply put, the outsiders were the wrong culture. Whatever they thought they were looking for at our school it went badly.
It was like hooking up a car battery to a city power line. If you were not raised through primary and middle school like the rest of us were you could not survive academically, socially, behaviorialy & culturally in our school. They quickly became more and more uncomfortable (and failing). I think some of them deliberately got themselves exposed so they could get back to their real schools. None of the other students were fooled by the false addresses because all of us knew each other socially - it was a small closed society. Both the teachers and the other students could spot a wanna-be very fast and turned them in. The interlopers all left relatively quickly.
Administration would do home visits when they suspected a false address. The tresspassing students were bounced out instantly when discovered or when they admitted the truth. In addition to having to live under our radically higher standards at school (Compared to the local urban High Schools), keeping to yourself was not a viable option. Loners were few and not well tolerated either.
Back then the local cops knew all of the kids and their families and who drove what car also. Outsider cars driving into or through town could be followed.
Very few of my classmates who graduated from the HS still live in that town. Too expensive.
By SET
August 31, 2007 10:38 AM | Link to this
A PS to the above entry. My old school district currently has it’s own “Alternative” high school so they can remove anybody who is academically failing in the normal school. The two schools are physically segregated. In so doing they keep the high school at the top of the state stats academically.
The odd thing is that the alternative school kids score far higher than the “normal” high schools in the surrounding region.
Historically discipline has always been uncontested. If you commit a crime in their schools you will be arrested and booked in juvenile hall (city police were called). And I mean possession of stolen property or any other contraband. No one who hit a teacher was ever seen again - and most people can’t remember ever knowing someone who did it.
I do remember the cops were always around and everybody knew each other. (Annoying kids would start getting traffic tickets until they were less annoying.) Everybody wanted to see each other’s cars - there were a lot of nice cars (expensive foreign cars, muscle cars and collector cars).
The local urban schools were free-for-alls by comparison.
By SET
August 31, 2007 10:51 AM | Link to this
One more thing. The cultural differences in my HS - seats were assigned - you didn’t sit where you wanted or change seats. Students were called on in class. Students could be dressed down in class if they failed to turn in required work or gave stupid answers to teacher questions. There was an unwritten dress code that was enforced by both the teachers and the other students. Any insubordination got a nose to nose confrontation with the teachers (some of them little old ladies with advanced degrees and an attitude). Half of the teachers were men. PE was run like military boot camp. If you refused to shower in the gang showers you got referred to a psychologist and put out of the school ultimately. The school would enroll you in classes on their accord if you didn’t select a schedule they approved of. Students were punished for public displays of affection.
I could go on - but the readers probably get it. This school did not worry about how a student felt but how they performed. If a student couldn’t perform they were transferred (back then) to a ghetto continuation school in another district.
And we all had a great time. Had to work and behave, though.
By Truth Filter
August 31, 2007 10:51 AM | Link to this
Good Lord People.
I’ve stopped coming to this blog because it’s just a bunch of whiners and complainers. And once you’ve whined and complained yourself out on the topic, you turn on Bridget.
If I remember correctly, Bridget has invited all of you to guest post and raise issues. So far, I’ve only seen a small handful of you do it.
You folks are amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever read one of the regulars on this blog say anything positive about teaching, education or, really, anything. Isn’t there anything good? You guys don’t need a blog. You need psychotherapy.
I’m deleting the bookmark to this blog — but not because of bridget. It’s because of you…
By yeah right
September 3, 2007 11:04 AM | Link to this
Ha ha ha ha ha…..
Yes, PLEASE don’t report me, but I live in the Fernbank district of Dekalb and we LIE to send our kids to Clayton County…..everyone is doing it!
By jim d
September 6, 2007 2:04 PM | Link to this
It is a shame that Eric failed to ask Ms. Duncan about the numbers of students from Clayton County that are enrolled in neighboring counties when she claimed the students attending in Clayton from out of district added to the overgrowding problems.