Mom: Schools’ legal-address affidavit is unconstitutional

A Fulton County mother of two school children says being forced to sign an affidavit swearing to her children’s legal address is unconstitutional and violates her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

Avis Hornsby, a criminal defense attorney and lifelong Fulton County resident, is suing the county school system in hopes of seeing the policy banned.

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“I don’t think people should be forced to sign a piece of paper that could later be used against you,” she said. “It’s ludicrous.”

Hornsby maintains she has already proven her residency by submitting copies of her mortgage, utility bills, car note and a bank statement. Those are sufficient for students new to the school system, or for those moving from one school level to another, Fulton County Schools spokesperson Susan Hale said. For everyone else, the affidavit is mandatory.

Hornsby has lived at the same South Fulton address for nearly nine years and her children are attending the schools, Sandtown Middle and Randolph Elementary, for which they have been zoned. While she is mindful of the county’s need to serve its own residents, she insists she shouldn’t have ever been forced to sign anything.

Fulton County school officials disagree. The step, implemented before the 2007-08 academic year, is a necessary measure, they say.

“We have an obligation to our taxpayers to make sure our students are legally enrolled,” Hale said.

It was for that reason that Suzann Wilcox, the Marietta-based attorney representing the school system in the case, said she was “very confident” Fulton County Superior Court Judge John W. Goger would rule in the school system’s favor. A court date is expected for this month but has not yet been set.

Francisco Negron, the attorney for the Virginia-based National School Boards Association, called the requirement for a signed residency affidavit a “reasonable request”.

Hornsby’s challenge to the state school policy comes on the heels of the recent felony conviction of Clayton County resident Tanja Hale and her brother-in-law, James Lewis of McDonough, after a Henry County jury found them guilty of making false statements in a sworn affidavit to illegally enroll a child in Henry schools. Each was placed on five years probation, and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. They were also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service and repay the Henry County school system nearly $1,200 in tuition costs.

Hornsby reluctantly signed the affidavit two years ago, but refused to at the start of the current school year, even as school officials gave her and other parents a December deadline.

Hornsby was forced to withdraw her children for a week in early January before she relented and signed the affidavits “under duress.”

She wants the policy done away with, while also making a statement,

“If nothing else comes of it,” she said, “I will have shown my children that, when there are injustices, the only way you’re going to change anything is by fighting.”