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Dozens banned from Fayette schools

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

An effort this year to crack down on out-of-county students enrolling in Fayette County schools by requiring proof of residency from every household is paying off in a big way, school officials say.

In a memo last week to Superintendent John DeCotis and other top administrators, Director of Pupil Personnel Services Faith Hardnett reported that 64 students had been forced to withdraw in the first month of the school year. Dozens more could still face the axe as the investigation continues.

From the start of school on Aug. 9, parents were given until the first week of September to provide solid proofÊthrough a utility bill, lease or sworn affidavitÊthat they actually reside and pay taxes in Fayette County.

But the parents of at least three dozen students didn’t even bother trying to prove residency, instead withdrawing their children voluntarily once they realized Fayette school officials were serious about the matter.

Of the 36 students who withdrew countywide, a whopping 28 of them were from just one school, Fayette County High.

Another 28 students throughout the county were forced to withdraw for “non-compliance,” when attempts by parents to prove residency failed and they were confronted by school administrators.

The most students removed for non-compliance from any one school were five each from Hood Avenue and Oak Grove elementaries, and Whitewater High. Two other students left Oak Grove voluntarily.

Among the county’s other high schools, two students were withdrawn for non-compliance from Sandy Creek, but none was asked to leave Starr’s Mill or McIntosh.

At least not yet.

For example, at McIntosh High no students had withdrawn either for non-compliance or voluntarily as of Sept. 13, according to Hardnett’s report.

But the permanent home addresses of 50 McIntosh students were still up in the air as of last week, Hardnett said, and remained under investigation.

Potentially, those McIntosh students and others could still be forced to leave the system.

“Either they haven’t provided the proper documents or there is some question about the documents,” explained DeCotis Monday night.

School board member Greg Powers brought the report to light at the close of Monday’s regular board meeting.

“I think we ought to let the public know the result of all the trouble they’ve gone through” to prove residency over the past few weeks, Powers said.

Board member Lee Wright pointed out the 64 pupils no longer in the system would equal about three elementary classrooms full of students.

DeCotis said that the average per-pupil cost in Fayette County is $6,800, meaning the 64 withdrawals will in theory save taxpayers $435,200 this year.

The residency requirement this school year came on the heels of an internal investigation last fall that suggested hundreds of students were enrolled in Fayette Schools illegally.

By the end of fall semester 2003, Fayette County had withdrawn 47 students for non-residency after investigating 162 individual cases.

To make their case a year ago, administrators often worked like private detectives, trailing suspected non-resident students home across county lines.

The proof-of-residency requirement at the start of this school year was intended to avoid a repeat of that awkward scenario.

Powers said the high number of withdrawals from Fayette County High didn’t surprise him.

“It fits what people have been telling me for a long time, that a lot of parents (from other counties) were dropping their kids off at Fayette County High illegally,” said Powers.