Due to mismanagement, cronyism, corruption, nepotism, etc. within the Prince George’s County public schools (PGCPS), a big number of PGCPS parents are choosing to enroll their children in Washington DC Public Schools fraudulently and at high risky to their families. It appears parents in Washington DC public schools who have been monitoring the situation and might have reported the practice to the office of D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine after countless observations. One parent wrote, “I love this. We DC residents pay a ton to live here and I see car after car of MD plates dropping off kids at DC schools.” Another one wrote “Same here! I notice a surprising amount of MD plate cars dropping kids off at the schools in my neighborhood and that I pass on my commute to work.” Another wrote, “This is important work…I see MD plates on cars dropping kids off every day when I walk my child to school.”
There is also a greatest Twitter handle in the DMV: @MD_Driver_in_DC which boosts of violations of the residency rules from Maryland to Washington DC . (Read the descriptor of the Twitter account here www.twitter.com/MD_Driver_in_DC
Political corruption, theft, and incompetence have been the hallmark of PG government for as long as anyone can remember. There’s a reason that our school system is the worst in the state of Maryland (with the possible exception of Baltimore City). The recent audit which painted the county in bad light shows why each of the 24 Public School systems should be required to do a periodic compliance and performance audit. Big systems like PGCPS and Montgomery County should have a permanent audit group; smaller systems could select a contractor from a list of such firms approved by the Maryland State Board of Education. “The state’s audit is not done frequently enough and is only a compliance audit which looks only for conformance to applicable laws. Each audit should also include a performance audit to question whether various actions are effective. For instance, if an organization acquires 100 printers, a compliance audit would show if all laws and regulations were followed. A performance audit would ask why they bought 100 printers when they have only 50 employees,” stated one observer on social media.
“Each public school system eats up half the budget of their jurisdiction. It’s high time we have accountability,” he concluded.
“Dr. Monica Goldson is not the leader you want in charge! Note her saviour style language i.e. giving the system procurement leadership it has not had in 15 years? Note the effort to take the approval authority away from the School Board. Systems don’t cheat people do! Whenever people talk about improving systems most time they are attempting to hide personal indulgences or ineffectiveness,” another parent stated on Facebook. She added that, “Is the sky blue? Have you ever tried washing clothes with dirty water? Does the clothes ever get clean and fresh? Gimme a break – Corruption County and then they want to get after folks who call them out. I say when you have clean hands its your duty to expose this cancer-like riddled infected administration. Are their employees succinctly fit to be in the positions they place them in or is this completely pay to play all the way? IJS Just run around the county and hold coffee and chat … about what …..when you already are compromised – get in there and fix it…”
It’s a pity and a shame that many black-run governments and school boards mismanage the trust placed in them. Over the years, PGCPS has been paying off lawyers and there are clear cases where judges have been paid off too in Maryland to maintain the status quo at the expense of the public. These illegal activities must be discouraged at every opportunity by both state and Federal governments as they deprive people of life, liberty, and property, without due process of law.
We reprint the report by Washington Post article below:
“Our office will continue to bring actions against any individuals who try to fraudulently take advantage of free schooling for District students,” said D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)
For the fourth time in the past year, the District is accusing families from the Maryland suburbs of fraudulently claiming to live in the city so their children could attend D.C. public schools. And three of the seven adults named in lawsuits worked for the school system at the time of the alleged fraud.
The lawsuit is the latest sign that District officials are more stringently enforcing residency fraud laws, which require families attending a D.C. public school to pay tuition if they live outside of the city.
The families skirted paying the required tuition, and the city’s attorney general said he is seeking more than $700,000 in unpaid fees and penalties, according to the lawsuit.
This is the fourth batch of residency-fraud lawsuits the city has filed in D.C. Superior Court in the past year, collectively seeking more than $2.6 million in unpaid tuition and damages.
“Residency fraud not only cheats our taxpayers, but it also hurts District children who play by the rules, and frequently rely on the school lottery process to attend the schools of their choice,” D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine said in a statement. “Our office will continue to bring actions against any individuals who try to fraudulently take advantage of free schooling for District students.”
The District alleges in three lawsuits that the families collectively sent six children to city schools between 2009 and 2015 without paying tuition.
Schools attended by the children include the now-closed Potomac Preparatory Public Charter School, Maury Elementary, Shining Stars Montessori Academy Public Charter School, Noyes Education Campus and Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School. Annual tuition at the schools for students from outside the city ranges from $10,000 to $14,000.
Under D.C. law, authorities wanting redress from lawbreaking suburban parents can seek to triple the amount of tuition those parents avoided by using a fraudulent D.C. address.
Named in the lawsuits Wednesday are April and Nicholas Fennell, residents of Oxon Hill, Md.; Chantese Alston, a former resident of Capitol Heights, Md., and current resident of the District; James Alston, a resident of Oxon Hill; and Rasaki Shittu and Rashidat Shittu of Upper Marlboro, Md.
Asaki Shittu, identified as the sister of Rashidat Shittu and a former employee of Noyes Education Campus, was also named in a complaint. The lawsuit alleges that Asaki Shittu handled enrollment matters at the school and helped her sister fill out false forms claiming D.C. residency to send her child to the school.
April and Nicholas Fennell are employed by Imagine Hope Community Public Charter School as a front desk liaison and physical education teacher, according to the D.C. attorney general’s office.
The families could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
Residency fraud has been an ongoing problem but came under increased scrutiny last year after a city investigation alleged that more than 30 percent of students at Duke Ellington School of the Arts — more than 160 teenagers — lived outside the city and were not paying tuition. But in October, administrators and parents at the school said the city had determined at least 90 of the accused students live in the District.
The Ellington investigation laid bare the complicated lives of students in an urban school system and the complexities that come with investigating residency fraud.
The D.C. Office of the Attorney General says it has dedicated additional resources to combating residency fraud over the past two years, including more investigators and attorneys.
Via Washington Post
Unless the Prince george’s county parents demand better leadership for their school system and reject current leaders advancing mismanagement, cronyism, corruption, nepotism, etc., they will be crying like a donkey shown here many years to come.
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