They're paying a crisp $100 bill for every traitor found walking the school hallways. That's amazing. I can't believe it's come to this.
This much I understand: The district argues that dozens of students who don't live in the district are fudging their home addresses so they can illegally attend Copley Schools. The result is a system that's educating kids whose families aren't paying the property taxes that are being collected by real Copley-Fairlawn families. District leaders did the math and say each stow-away student robs the system of about $8,000, and that since there could be as many as 100 students, that's a whopping $800K.
Here's what I don't get: District leaders are now offering rewards for turning in your fellow students. So if Billy fesses up to Bobby during kindergarten recess that even though his emergency card lists his mom's address, he really lives with his dad in Akron. Now, Billy might get ratted out by Bobby's parents after Bobby tells them what Billy said during play time. I mean, shouldn't "what happens under the monkey bars stay under the monkey bars"?
Gas prices are high and the holidays are coming .. so yeah, sure, we could all use a C-note. But to get that reward I'm supposed to snitch out my study hall buddies?
What I fear is the program's possible success. What if the district does end up catching 50-75 kids and makes them either pay up back taxes or some kind of tuition? Meanwhile, students and parents have found a new source of income.
What's next? School systems offering even bigger money to pupils who know wh
en teachers are having inappropriate relationship with students? How about even larger payments if you have photo proof? We certainly see those scenarios play out on the news nightly .. so maybe cold hard cash is the way to find out sooner?
Wouldn't community leaders have to consider a similar plan? Couldn't we just see Akron City Hall offering up a free week's vacation to any city employee who rats out a fellow employee whose living outside the city limits?
Somewhere along the line we need to leave the average Joe's out of the investigative process.
If you want to know whose fibbing to the district, you should find out yourself. Creating a witch hunt for cash creates more distrust than discovery.
Here's what I don't get: District leaders are now offering rewards for turning in your fellow students. So if Billy fesses up to Bobby during kindergarten recess that even though his emergency card lists his mom's address, he really lives with his dad in Akron. Now, Billy might get ratted out by Bobby's parents after Bobby tells them what Billy said during play time. I mean, shouldn't "what happens under the monkey bars stay under the monkey bars"?
Gas prices are high and the holidays are coming .. so yeah, sure, we could all use a C-note. But to get that reward I'm supposed to snitch out my study hall buddies?
What I fear is the program's possible success. What if the district does end up catching 50-75 kids and makes them either pay up back taxes or some kind of tuition? Meanwhile, students and parents have found a new source of income.
What's next? School systems offering even bigger money to pupils who know wh
en teachers are having inappropriate relationship with students? How about even larger payments if you have photo proof? We certainly see those scenarios play out on the news nightly .. so maybe cold hard cash is the way to find out sooner?Wouldn't community leaders have to consider a similar plan? Couldn't we just see Akron City Hall offering up a free week's vacation to any city employee who rats out a fellow employee whose living outside the city limits?
Somewhere along the line we need to leave the average Joe's out of the investigative process.
If you want to know whose fibbing to the district, you should find out yourself. Creating a witch hunt for cash creates more distrust than discovery.
5 comments:
Eric, great post.
This is an additional stress for kids who deal with parents who don't live together. Now kids who may feel socially awkward because they get shuffled back and forth between separated parents or broken homes are going to be scared to talk about their situations to anyone for fear of being deported out of the district. What about guidance counselors or school psychologists? Are they required to identify those kids whose residency is in question?
It seems to me that this would be a problem between school administrators and parents. $100 for $1,000 kids is $100,000. I'd think they could hire some kind of consulting firm at a fraction of the price to do professional and discrete checks on students and families to verify their residency.
good for copley for doing this and being proactive against thieves. WHich is what these people are. The resources for these crooks is taken from those thst have paid theirs legitamtely
To beat on a dead horse, this would not even be an issue if we had a county-wide school district, or if the legislature would finally resolve the funding issue. As it stands I can't blame the school for what it's doing.
As a parent of students who legally attend Copley-Fairlawn Schools, this is a measure that the school administration should have instituted some time ago. Copley-Fairlawn does not have open enrollment - period end of the sentence. I would recommend that the administration have an open house and ask parents to verify their child's eligibility for an education within the district. Those parents who are unable to produce the required documentation for their student will be asked to disenroll that student and pay back to the district the dollars expended for the period in which the student was ineligible to receive the benefits. I guarantee that those parents who have their students attending legally will have no problem with showing up to verify the benefit that their children are entitled. Stealing education services is something that we should not tolerate and it is a crime. If you want the benefit of an excellent education, move within the district - it is that simple. 100 students illegally attending is an alarming number. Those dollars should be used for additional educational services to meet the needs of those students who legally attend the schools. Shame on those parents who think they can take advantage and cheat our children out of what we work so hard to provide them - a quality education. I hope that this measure is successful in curbing this shameful and criminal act.
For those looking for a follow up here. The district is no longer offering the $100 bounty, that offer was removed from the district web site.
At least 3 students in one building in the district are not residents and were given letters telling them not to attend any more. They still are. They were just moved to "tuition-based" which means they will pay the $8000 a year. If you can afford $8000 a year, you don't go to public schools with St. Hilaries, Ladies of the Elm, etc. so close.
So it looks as though you can just run a tab at the bar now. But they accomplished their main goal. Get publicity and talk tough, so now the community THINKS the district is cracking down on Akron thugs scaming the district.
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