By the Pennsauken Board of Education: Nick Perry, President; Allyson Meloni-Scavuzzo, Vice President; Cheryl Duffy; Michael Hurley; Diane Johnson; Leona Moss; Meg Snyder; Orlando Viera; and JoAnn Young
As we approach spring, the Pennsauken School District is already planning for the upcoming 2016-2017 school year. We will begin our budget process in the coming weeks, which will allow us to plan for the implementation of our district goals. In developing the budget, our enrollment numbers are part of the equation. Our total enrollment for the purpose of our budget is based on three categories of students: students who reside in Pennsauken who attend school in our district; students who reside in Pennsauken and attend private schools for special needs services; and those who reside in Pennsauken but attend charter schools. If children do not reside in Pennsauken and fall into one of these categories, they are not eligible to be educated by Pennsauken School District. Identifying ineligible children who are fraudulently being educated in our district is a major concern of the Board of Education, as it places an unfair financial burden on our district and on the taxpayers of Pennsauken.
This issue of educational eligibility has been addressed in previous Board Bits articles. In last year’s article on student residency concerns, we reported that our commitment to address this issue began in March 2014, when the Board budgeted considerable funds to combat this problem. This money was used for additional staff and resources, including a centralized registration department. The next step in our fight to solve student residency issues in the district was in July 2014, with the adoption of our new residency policy. The residency policy, based on New Jersey law, outlines the rules for registering students in Pennsauken Township schools, including what documents must be presented to register. Additionally, the policy states that any individual who has fraudulently enrolled a student in the district can be billed for the tuition associated with educating a student in our district, along with the removal of the student from our schools. Other penalties, including fines, are also possible pursuant to state law. All of our policies, including residency, are now available on Pennsauken School District website in order to ensure easy access for every community member.
In March 2015, the Board amended our residency policy and regulation to include the re-registration of all students being promoted from eighth grade to Pennsauken High School. This requirement, as allowed by law, will provide administration with the most current addresses and guardianship information pertaining to incoming ninth grade students to determine continued eligibility to attend our schools.
More recently, the Board of Education has implemented numerous changes to continue to tackle the problem of ineligible student attending our schools. In the fall of 2015, the Board of Education voted to hire an additional district investigator to help examine issues of residency. By hiring an additional employee in this department, the Board was able to extend the months of the year that investigators look into claims of residency fraud. Previously, our investigator was hired to work for 10 months of the year; now, due to the hiring of the second investigator and careful scheduling, we have our district investigation unit in full operation for all 12 months of the year.
In December 2015, the Board of Education voted to enter into a contract with company called Verify Residence. This company’s private investigator uses national electronic databases to verify students’ addresses. These databases, which are updated daily, include data from Homeland Security, the United States Postal Service and Motor Vehicle Commission. Each search costs only $1.50, making this service both beneficial and affordable. This company is able to provide district administration with information on the current valid addresses of students.
As part of its service, Verify Residence also has provided three different methods for our community members to report suspicions about ineligible students being educated in Pennsauken. These include contacting the company anonymously via the following toll free hotline number, 1-888-800-TIPS (8477); contacting the company via email at tips@verifyresidence.com or via fax at 832-308-3314. Prior to reporting any suspicions, community members are asked to please visit verifyresidence.com to review the information that is requested to accompany claims. Any claim that comes in through these methods will be referred to the district for investigation, including an address search through their databases.
The Pennsauken Board of Education is continually dedicated to finding effective ways to manage the issue of student residency. We want to ensure that only eligible students are being educated and those who are not eligible are quickly identified. In order to do this effectively and efficiently, we need the mobilized resources of the district and the help of the Pennsauken community. Together we can solve this problem.
Board Bit Of The Month
After nearly two years of work, our finalized policy manual, which includes the residency policy (5111 – ELIGIBILITY OF RESIDENT/NONRESIDENT STUDENTS), is available on the Pennsauken Public Schools website, pennsauken.net. The manual contains over 400 policies that govern the operation of the Pennsauken School District.
