School board: Why ignore illegal students?

Tue, 01/24/2006 - 5:32pm
By: Letters to the ...

I am a homeowner in the city of Fayetteville and a proud resident of Fayette County. If one does his homework, he would find the Fayette County School System, statistically, to be the best in the state of Georgia.
It is interesting to note, however, that any given Realtor will inform you the county you are looking in at the time happens to be the best. I found this out through experience when I was looking to move out of Buckhead in 2002. Apparently, eagerness to get a sale will sometimes distort truth.
The reason I am writing is to inform you of some troubling information I have found to be true. There are many, many students currently enrolled in the Fayette County School System who are NOT residents of Fayette County.
This is troubling because, as a significant taxpayer, my taxes are going to educate students who are stealing from me, my neighbors, and every other lawful taxpayer in Fayette County.
Not only are they stealing from Fayette County taxpayers, far worse, they are stealing from every single Fayette County student this tax money lawfully should be going to.
If one should read the registration requirements for the Fayette County School System, and take them at face value, they seem pretty sound. However, do you think they may be being manipulated? The United States has residency requirements too. Are they being manipulated? I think so.
We have a friend who’s a teacher at one of the wonderful elementary schools in Fayette. She says this problem is widespread.
It is indeed understandable, considering Fayette is neighbored on two sides by counties known for atrocious school systems, Clayton and Fulton.
Why wouldn’t any resident/parent of those counties seek to fraudulently enroll their student in a very high-achieving county like Fayette, considering it is so easy? A Fayette education is priceless.
Point in fact, fraud is committed every day, and people go to great lengths to get into (by any means necessary) such a jewel of a system as Fayette County.
I am sure this information is not new to you. If you monitor, as students are dropped off and picked up, you will see numerous tags from both Clayton and Fulton. If you talk to your teachers, you will find this to be true.
What is the Fayette County School System doing and going to do to ensure that Fayette taxpayers’ money is not spent educating students who are not lawful residents of this county?
What means are undertaken, throughout the school year, to verifiably establish residency AND to determine fraud?
Is the county actively prosecuting violators, when found, for this fraud and theft?
If not, why?
Morgan Kemp
Fayetteville, Ga.

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Submitted by did not know on Tue, 01/31/2006 - 4:35am.

I agree with what you say,I take my child to school and see the tags from other counties as well. What bothers me is that we are overloading our teachers this way. I was talking to my child who is in middle school and he mentioned 2 different teachers, with many years in the classroom, have been made to cry in front of the whole class. The reason both times was the same kids missbehaving and insulting the teachers till it has become unbearable. Granted, I dont know where the kids in question are from, but the deal is the classrooms are overcrowded and we are making these women put up with stress they shouldn't. My child has come up with some bad habits of dissrespect this year and I have a feeling he picked it up at school. We are to blame for not running the best people for office. From our district, the person in question got the job by default as no one ran against them either election, yet I have heard it said more than once, by different people, this person is only there for the title. The choice, to sit there like bumps on a log with the overcrowing seems to confirm this. I am now thinking of putting my kid in private school and moving to Cowetta where the taxes are so much lower, they would off set the cost of private school. I moved here only because the public schools were suppose to be so good. Paying the enormous tax bill I do and seeing the tags in the mornings, makes me sick and feel used. I have also heard ever since I moved here that Fayette has a little 'deal' going that if you live close to the county line and can prove that your kid can't get a good education in his school, or a few other little nifty things, you can bring them here. I feel some version of this must be true.

Submitted by historybuff on Tue, 01/31/2006 - 11:32am.

Instead of moving why don't you help elect somebody with backbone to the board. There are two seats up this year. Both of these need to be replaced. Let's all join together to correct this problem. Next school board meeting is 2/13. We should get as many people as possible to go.

Submitted by DWP33 on Tue, 01/31/2006 - 12:41pm.

I was at the last BOE meeting that was held jan.23rd. A lady got up and addressed the issue. The board kinda laughed it off and seemed a bit bored with the issue. So i do think we should get as many people as we can to show up in Feb. We should let them know that it was "we" the taxpayers who put them in office, and "we" the taxpayers can take them right back out. I know of one student that is definatley a illeagle student living in Rex,ga. I used my resourse's to make sure neither parent was a resident or employee of fayette county. Neither worked in fayette co or resides in fayette co. When trying to let arleen know the info, we were brushed off as if it didnt even matter. Whats next?

secret squirrel's picture
Submitted by secret squirrel on Tue, 01/31/2006 - 12:58pm.

While I couldn't agree with you more on this issue, there is a certain degree of humor at the fact that you're writing about an issue involving education yet your post appears to have been written by a five year old who feel asleep on the keyboard.


Submitted by Sailon on Tue, 01/31/2006 - 4:48pm.

What are you, some kind of school teacher? I prefer it also if someone takes the time to learn to write and spell, but if they don't, we simply can't hang or shoot them, now can we. The point is more important.

Submitted by DWP33 on Tue, 01/31/2006 - 1:44pm.

Sorry Mr. Squirrel I dont have time to think of the most clever way to get my point across. The fact of the matter is were all on the same team. If we can get this resolved, ill be more than happy. I think the illegal matter is more important, than the grammer i use to get my point across. What do you think?

secret squirrel's picture
Submitted by secret squirrel on Wed, 02/01/2006 - 8:43am.

I expected the humor in that to be missed- it was still funny. Just for future reference, it's spelled "grammar." But again, I wholly agree with your position, I just find it amusing (as do others) that a written discussion about education has so many misspellings, grammatical mistakes and punctuation errors. No, it's not a big deal.

highgreen, what can I say? I'm just trying to keep up with the Joneses... so to speak.

Now, on point, John DeCotis states today that he's unware of unreturned phone calls and will work to solve the problem. Isn't that the problem? I'd advise the BOE to take a few minutes and read some of the firsthand accounts detailed on this website.


Submitted by CNP2000 on Wed, 02/01/2006 - 8:55am.

Dr. Decotis knows that Arlene Law and Mr. Campbell are not returning phone calls. At the last board meeting a lady got up and told the board that her calls were not returned from either of them. They need to think of a better excuse. Although its probably too late because they can kiss being re-elected goodbye!

Submitted by harvard1991 on Fri, 01/27/2006 - 2:14pm.

The quality of the education our Fayette students are receiving is entirely attributable to the exemplary teachers instructing them. The Fayette County teachers simply are some of the best in the business. They are helping our students excel in spite of the utter complacency/mismanagement of the Fayette County School Board. The school board, collectively, have their heads stuck in the sand on this issue of illegal students and I for one am glad Morgan brought it out in the open. Inaction is not the way to go if you want to keep your present position. Shame on you School Board! When each of these members is up for re-election, they should be shown the door! And the administration had better wake up too!

Buckwheat Rules's picture
Submitted by Buckwheat Rules on Wed, 01/25/2006 - 4:15pm.

Right on Morgan! ... you hit the nail on the head. No truer word could be written or spoken.

The current proof of residency prerequisite is not the only joke. The real laughter comes from all the fraudulent parents who realize that our school system is top notch and want to reap the rewards of it without having to actually pay for it. It doesn't take much to figure out that Fayette County Schools aren't following up throughout the school year and properly sending these kids back to the school system of the county in which they actually reside.

I'm not going to even go into what this is also doing for traffic congestion in and around Fayetteville in the mornings. That's a whole different issue.


Submitted by ptcmom678 on Wed, 02/01/2006 - 10:56am.

I used to be a FCBOE substitute teacher. I routinely heard teachers commenting about students who brought in a Krispy Kreme everyday from the RIVERDALE store since they passed it coming to school EVERY day! At Whitewater Middle, the dropoff line is a joke. Check the plates - you'll see a lot of Clayton, Coweta, etc. plates. Do not dare to tell me that there are not illegal kids in this school system and overcrowding our schools. Also, do not dare put the onus on teachers to report these kids - teachers have quite enough to do keeping up with state regulations and {gasp} trying to teach their students. By the way, teachers, you are doing a great job for the most part. Thank you very much.
PTCmom678

Submitted by PTCMomma on Wed, 02/01/2006 - 11:56am.

I still do sub, and know of at least one family with 2 kids at RSMS that live in Coweta. Neither of their parents work for the school system. They've been reported by several parents. I agree that teachers shouldn't have to try to keep up with all of this but if they know it, they should tell.
Mom to 3, plus a few strays

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