By Stephanie Prokop, Staff Writer
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey recently released findings alleging that approximately 20 percent of state public schools, including the New Hanover School District, are illegally asking for information containing the Social Security number of a child or a parent as a prerequisite for enrollment.
New Hanover Superintendent Terri Sackett denied the claim and said she was confident that the district does not ask for Social Security numbers as an information prerequisite for children to enter the district.
“We don’t collect that information, and we eliminated that category out of our student database years ago, since there are laws prohibiting it,” she said on Wednesday.
She said she could not comment further on the release Wednesday since she wasn’t familiar with its details.
A total of eight schools in Burlington County were on the list, also including Burlington City, Burlington Township, Riverton Borough, Hainesport, Maple Shade, Shamong and Woodland townships.
According to an ACLU press release, the group attempted to survey 635 school districts throughout the state to make sure they were practicing legal enrollment requirements. The ACLU-NJ said it successfully contacted 516 school districts in June 2008, which is approximately 80 percent of all districts within the state.
The survey found that 178 districts, over a quarter of those successfully contacted, required information such as apartment leases or utility bills that would reveal the Social Security number or immigration status of students seeking to enroll despite state and federal laws prohibiting the practice.
“The commissioner is very disturbed at the large number of school districts that the ACLU says are still doing this,” said state Department of Education Public Information Director Kathryn Forsyth on Tuesday.
She added that the commissioner will be sending letters to the 187 school districts mentioned in the release, and the DOE is possibly “looking at options such as withholding state aid should violations be identified.”
The department says it has repeatedly reminded districts to advise all staff that they are not permitted to ask for Social Security numbers, or other information that would indicate immigration status, and that schools must change Web sites and registration forms to delete sections requesting that information.

