The Fayette County School System’s crackdown on illegal students is drawing state-wide attention.

“We are the only system that is prosecuting these cases,” said Superintendent of Education John DeCotis, during Monday night’s school board meeting.

Last week’s press conference announcing the arrest of two people for falsely swearing on residency affidavits indicated how serious the system is about the issue, said Assistant Superintendent of Operations Sam Sweat.

Sweat said the process started in late June when the system sent out letters to the 965 parents of students attending Fayette County Schools on affidavits.

“418 of those students were no-shows,” Sweat said.

Since school opened, an addition 591 students filled out affidavits, which brings the total to more than 1,100 students. Currently, the system is investigating the 275 affidavits at the high school level and is paying investigators $25 an hour to help with the process.

“We started at the high school level, because we believe that will lead us to siblings that may also be attending middle or elementary school,” Sweat said.

The system plans to have every affidavit investigated by Christmas and bring a report to the board.

Sweat also added that a day after the press conference, two families asked to change their addresses on the affidavit.

“We’re working with the D.A.’s office to determine how those cases should be handled,” he added.

Sweat thanked the efforts of District Attorney Scott Ballard and law enforcement agencies.

“We could not do this without their help.”