By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
There has been a noticeable uptick in the cases of students illegally attending public schools in Princeton, an issue that district officials said this week that they plan to notify law enforcement of.
“It does seem to be getting to be more and more,” district Business Administrator Stephanie Kennedy said Wednesday, a day after the school board voted to remove two students whose identities were not disclosed.
That brought the total to four students found not to be legally domiciled in Princeton so far this school year. In three of those cases, the board voted to remove the students, while in the fourth, the family of the child ultimately withdrew the student after a residency challenge.
“I would say easily for the last three months, we’ve had a residency hearing every month,” said school board member Molly Chrein, who sits on the board committee that handles those matters. She said the amount is more than normal.
“It could be that we’re better at cracking down on it,” she said as a possible reason for the increase.
To be eligible for a free education in the district, a child has to live in town with his or her parents or legal guardian. At the moment, there are some 3,500 children in the public school system. Based on tips or other information, the district will investigate to determine if a child is living in Princeton or not.
Ms. Chrein said one tip involved a parent bragging about how easy it was to defraud the school system.
“They ended up getting investigated,” Ms. Chrein said.
Some times, people are blatant. Ms. Kennedy recalled a case where a child was being dropped off at school by a car with a Pennsylvania license plate. She faulted parents for setting a bad example.
“And it’s really not fair to the children, because you’re teaching your children to lie,” she said.
Aside from the unscrupulous parents, officials point the finger at local landlords who enable them. School board President Andrea Spalla said officials have seen a pattern where people sign leases for the sole reason of saying they have a Princeton address but with no intention of living here.
“I know as far back as two or three years ago, I’ve had cases where families are supposedly living in one bedroom in somebody’s attic,” Ms. Chrein said.
“To the extent that the landlords are complicit, that could be fraud,” Ms. Spalla said.
The school board is considering whether to seek monetary damages against families who have enrolled their children illegally. Officials point to the staff time it takes to address residency cases, not to mention the lost tuition parents ordinarily would have had to pay to send their child here.
Tuition to attend district schools is $19,000 per school year for grades one to five, $17,691 at the middle school and $17,831 at the high school, Ms. Kennedy said.
“Why don’t we go after these landlords for liability for the cost of educating these kids?” Ms. Chrein said.
