Riverside School District 96 will attempt to collect $33,000 in tuition from the parents of two children who were allegedly attending district schools illegally for the past year and a half.
In March the District 96 school board voted unanimously to recover the full tuition amount after district administrators presented evidence that the parents had forged lease documents so that their two children could attend school in Riverside.
According to Superintendent Jonathan Lamberson, the family lives in Berwyn.
District 96 is also planning on expanding its efforts to have all families prove residency by requiring them to provide documentation prior to children beginning third and sixth grades. Presently, the district asks for proof of residency just once-when a child registers for kindergarten or when a new student moves in from out of town.
“This case brought [the changes] forward,” Lamberson said. “We need to do this.”
The school board has not yet voted to institute the new policy, but is expected to act on it at the board’s May meeting.
“It’s probably a good practice to get into,” said school board President Cheryl Berdelle, “even though it’s burdensome for parents.
“It’s a financial issue, but the biggest problem is that it hurts the kids. If they are found [to be violating residency], the child has got to be yanked out of school. It’s a terrible consequence.”
Since the residency ruling by the District 96 board may still be appealed, the family’s name has not been released. However, Lamberson said that the parents could eventually face criminal charges for forging documents.
According to Lamberson, the district investigation took four months to complete and followed in the wake of information that cast doubt on the family’s residency. Lamberson said that district mail sent to the purported address was returned. One of the children in question also reportedly admitted to not living in the community after being invited to a classmate’s birthday party.
Lamberson said the district hired a private investigator to uncover more information about where the children lived. When district officials looked harder into rental lease documents provided by the family, they reportedly found that someone else was living in the apartment.
Despite the evidence, Lamberson said the family called for a formal hearing where they could present evidence of their own. School board members Nancy Jensen and Hareena Wakely presided over the hearing, ruling that the children were attending district school in violation of residency requirements. The board took formal action based on that ruling at its March 18 meeting.
Lamberson said he deals with a handful of residency cases each year. Typically, the families are found out fairly early on in the school year, are asked to leave the district and are directed to their local school district.
“Most times it’s caught mid-year,” Lamberson said, most often making the effort to collect back tuition more expensive than the amount owed.