SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco school officials have gone on the offensive against students who lie about where they live so they can attend the city's schools.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that over the last seven months, the school district has identified 200 students who do not live within the city's limits and have kicked them out.
"We are knocking on doors if need be," said Archie Fokin, director of the district's Educational Placement Center. "And we don't call and tell them we're coming."
The district is offering amnesty until Nov. 20 for any other students who admit they do not belong in city schools.
Students who come forward will be allowed to finish the semester. Their parents will not be charged the $500 to $4,500 per student the district says it has spent rooting out offenders.
The costs include staff time and using private detectives to verify whether students live where they say they do. Officials said address fraud takes many forms, from using an acquaintance's address to altering utility bills.
Most of the students who are improperly attending live south of the city. They come for various reasons, including a desire to attend what some see as better schools or simply because it's more convenient for a working parent, officials said.
The district says students attending on false pretenses are potentially displacing San Francisco students from the schools where they rightly belong. A new student assignment system was adopted last March that give more priority to students living near schools and in census tracts that show low test scores. Ramped-up investigations into suspected address cheats began around the same time.
"San Francisco residents are completely frustrated with paying the high rent and the high home costs and not being able to get into the school they want to," Fokin said. "What we've seen from the 200 families is that there is a great potential that many more families are doing this.
Don't you just wish the city of S.F. would go after illegals in the same way, then maybe stories like the one below would never have happened.
Anthony Bologna, 48, and his sons, Michael Bologna, 20, and Matthew Bologna, 16, were shot and killed in San Francisco on June 16, 2008. The Bologna males were allegedly killed by a Salvadoran illegal immigrant, Edwin Ramos, 22.
Edwin Ramos was convicted of two crimes when he was 17. l San Francisco officials did not turn him over to federal agencies for deportation due to the cities sanctuary policy.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that over the last seven months, the school district has identified 200 students who do not live within the city's limits and have kicked them out.
"We are knocking on doors if need be," said Archie Fokin, director of the district's Educational Placement Center. "And we don't call and tell them we're coming."
The district is offering amnesty until Nov. 20 for any other students who admit they do not belong in city schools.
Students who come forward will be allowed to finish the semester. Their parents will not be charged the $500 to $4,500 per student the district says it has spent rooting out offenders.
The costs include staff time and using private detectives to verify whether students live where they say they do. Officials said address fraud takes many forms, from using an acquaintance's address to altering utility bills.
Most of the students who are improperly attending live south of the city. They come for various reasons, including a desire to attend what some see as better schools or simply because it's more convenient for a working parent, officials said.
The district says students attending on false pretenses are potentially displacing San Francisco students from the schools where they rightly belong. A new student assignment system was adopted last March that give more priority to students living near schools and in census tracts that show low test scores. Ramped-up investigations into suspected address cheats began around the same time.
"San Francisco residents are completely frustrated with paying the high rent and the high home costs and not being able to get into the school they want to," Fokin said. "What we've seen from the 200 families is that there is a great potential that many more families are doing this.
Don't you just wish the city of S.F. would go after illegals in the same way, then maybe stories like the one below would never have happened.
Anthony Bologna, 48, and his sons, Michael Bologna, 20, and Matthew Bologna, 16, were shot and killed in San Francisco on June 16, 2008. The Bologna males were allegedly killed by a Salvadoran illegal immigrant, Edwin Ramos, 22.
Edwin Ramos was convicted of two crimes when he was 17. l San Francisco officials did not turn him over to federal agencies for deportation due to the cities sanctuary policy.
