For the 2017-2018 school year, OSSE conducted an investigation into the residency of 100% of the students enrolled at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, that was over 500 students. The goal of preventing residency fraud is legitimate; OSSE's strategy has been flawed and has done a serious disservice to District resident families and to the reputation of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
They found 56 families to have questionable paperwork and 164 additional families were deemed to be non-residents. That’s over 40% of the students. And that does not include the 46 tuition-paying students who are not DC residents. Yes, Duke Ellington is a sought-after school, but there are not 220 families cheating the system at Duke Ellington. In fact, here are a few of the families wrongfully accused of being non-residents…
These families passed the first enrollment audit. So exactly what evidence did OSSE find that enabled them to accuse 220 families of being out of District residents? Well, the accused families don’t know because OSSE refuses to share the investigation results. Of the 220, 56 families must provide more documentation and 164 families must request an administrative hearing to appeal the non-resident finding. But without knowing what that finding is based on, how can they prepare the appeal?
The families can only guess, but here are some possible reasons for OSSE’s findings (names changed to protect the innocent)…
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Veronica and Jose owned a home in Maryland and got divorced in 2016. Both of their names were on the title. Veronica moved to DC with her children and the husband kept the home in Maryland. OSSE’s investigator did a title search and found Veronica’s name on property owned in Maryland. OSSE deemed Veronica a non-DC resident. Does that really prove Veronica’s non-residency?
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The Franklins have lived in DC all their lives. They became the legal guardians of their granddaughter when she was an infant and have court documents to prove it. The OSSE investigator found that the birth mother lives in Maryland. OSSE deemed the Franklins non-DC residents. Does that really prove the Franklin’s non-residency?