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About 8 weeks ago, I finally made the trek (okay, drove the 3 miles) to the local public school to register Big for first grade. The boys were at school, so it was just a tired and cranky Little and me. I introduced myself and was informed that they would make a special exception for me, because I had Little with me, and send the registration packet home to be returned later. According to the secretary I spoke with, forms are to be completed in the office. (1) As I left, I requested a tour or school visit for Big and was told it wouldn’t be a problem. I was also given a checklist of items I would need when I return with my paperwork. (2)
That weekend I completed the paperwork, collected the necessary items and returned to the school with Big for a tour and to deliver the paperwork. The necessary items, according to the checklist, included a utility bill as proof of residency.
Upon return, I realized that I had forgotten Big’s birth certificate. The assistant to the secretary wasn’t at all concerned–I could bring that later. However, there were a few other problems:
- I didn’t have his dental records
- the utility bill wasn’t enough proof of residency
I questioned both. My children’s pediatric dentist claims there is a state mandated form that they need to receive from the school to submit. The school claims that the office should send general records. And for the past 6 weeks I’ve been going back and forth on this one. Finally deciding that I’ll wait for the school to come to me on this issue. No one is budging with giving me anything to submit.
But the utility bill? Now that was a problem to me. Here I had a bill with my name on it, issued from a public company that serves our township. What more could they need.
“Well,” the secretary approached as she was saying, “I need more proof that you live in your home. Your mortgage statement or lease agreement, or title to your home.” pause. Glance down at my address. “You understand, of course, that we need to be sure that people really do live in their homes, right?”
Now, I’m not yet ready to accuse because I need to check with a few friends who also registered their kids for the school, but I’m very curious if she needs this information for my neighborhood only because we are an extremely international neighborhood, or for everyone.
Anyway, I said no. I told her that it wasn’t necessary and that a sewer bill is a utility bill and it should suffice. She told me she wouldn’t accept it because, “you know. Anyone can put their name on a sewer bill.”
I fished around my bag, well knowing that neither the title to my home nor my mortgage agreement would be inside, and very well knowing that, as a teacher and having worked in real estate there was no way they would be on the receiving end of any of that. Luckily, inside my bag was my camera card for my new drivers license photo.
“Here you go,” I responded as I handed it to her.
She made a face. “Your camera card?”
“Yes,” I responded. “Its issued by the Commonwealth. You can’t have much more proof than that.” She hesitated. “It even has my eye color and height. You won’t find that on a Title.” I laughed. She paused. That’s right. She paused. She didn’t want to accept the government issued document.
“I don’t know… I really like to have proof of your home.”
“Well, you have my address right there. It will work.”
And she made the copy and handed it back. The tour was fine, we still haven’t figured out the dentist information, and Big is nervous as anything.
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Last week, I returned to the school with the birth certificate. The secretary wasn’t there but the woman working in the office made a copy. And then explained that she couldn’t find my son’s file… anywhere. She searched through all of the newly registered children’s files. She searched the incomplete files. She searched 2 desks. The file was missing. She promised to call if there was a problem.
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Which brings us to today. When I received a call from the substitute to the secretary.
“Mrs. Precious? Hi, this is Jane, the substitute in for June while our school secretary is on vacation? I was just going through Big’s enrollment file…” oh, good. She found it. “for Kindergarten…”
“ummm… you mean first grade, right?”
“First grade? Oh! FIRST grade!” (Thank goodness I called her on that one. I would hate for him to get to school and be placed in a K classroom at 7 years old.) “Yes. Okay. Well, you see. I wanted to see when you’d be bringing your title in for us to copy and place in his folder?”
“I’m not bringing in the our title.” I responded. (3).
“No? Okay, your mortgage agreement, then.”
“No, I won’t be bringing that either.”
“Oh. Well, Mrs. Imakemyownrules is very strict about this and she wants to have everyone’s titles on file. I see we have a camera card here and I just know that she doesn’t consider it enough.”
“Actually,” I responded. “It is enough. I brought the camera card to school, along with a utility bill. I’m not required to bring anything else. You have enough proof of residency, really.”
“Well,” the subsitute secretary said nervously. “Did she tell you she was okay with that?”
“I provided the information the school district asks for. That’s all that is needed.”
“Oh, well. Okay then.” She hung up.
Of course, I was infuriated after the call. I tweeted about it (actually, this wasn’t the first time I tweeted about it.) I loved all the response of people who were as shocked as I was. At issue was that the school district clearly states on their website
The Following Items are Needed for Registration:
Proof of district residency (parent/guardian name and address must appear on document. Examples are: agreement of sale, lease, current utility bill, bank statement, vehicle registration, etc)
No where do the even ask for a title or mortgage agreement. And a utility bill is completely acceptable.
A few friends commented that their district does require a Title as well as a utility bill or some other form of proof of residency. And that’s fine. I understand that we live in very sought after school districts. I understand that some houses have kids bunking in with them Monday to Friday for the benefit of the school. I had students doing that when I was teaching, too. But what’s not okay is that this secretary is requiring something on her own. Not by district policy, but by her own policy. I checked around. The other elementary schools in our district are just fine with your sewer bill.
Still, I’m a new parent, my kid’s a new kid. Why flag us already? Isn’t this just a matter of principle?
Actually, no. If I were simply a parent than I’m sure it would be, and I would also understand the perspective of “just give it to her and make the old lady happy.” But I’m coming from the perspective of a teacher. I know about permanent files. I know the rules of the files that state that the files may not leave the safe and must be signed out and in with a witness. I know that.
But I also know, first hand, that these rules aren’t followed. Not when teachers are encouraged to look through the files year after year when they want to learn about their students. If they want to compare test scores, grades from previous years, look for notes from previous teachers… they’re all in these permanent files. And at the beginning and end of the year, when all of the teachers need to file papers into these folders? They’re not staying in the safe. And its not just teachers looking through. Its paraprofessionals. Its secretaries. Its assistant librarians. Its anyone who can help to file documents.
No, I don’t think that school workers intentionally search through folders to find read about Mortgage rates attained or what the final cost on their house was. But I do think know that these hard-working people have opportunities to view this information… and sometimes their eyes wander and suddenly the gym teacher has knowledge about how much his 2nd grader’s parents pay each month in mortgage or lease payments.
So, no. I will not provide any unnessary information to the school. If it was a requirement for entry, then I’d have to. But I am not providing it for the use of a secretary who, it seems, is rather disorganized and, very possibly, nosy. And if that red-flags me as a new parent, so-be-it. I’d rather be known as a parent who sticks up for her family than a pushover who just does whatever she’s asked to do.
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Notes:
(1) Forms are not required to be filled out in the school. They are available online, so they can clearly come home to be completed since it is prefered that you print the form out at home anyway.
(2) The Checklist was extremely incomplete. It was actually a Kindergarten list with plenty of extra items on it that first graders don’t need. And, of course, there was no mention of Title or Mortgage Agreement on it.
(3) Yes, I am very aware that anyone can access a copy of my title through the Registrar of Deeds. And if Ms. Imakemyownrules would like to search the internet to find them, she is welcome to do so. However, there is a difference between someone taking the time to search, and a teacher-assistant coming across a paper. The assistant won’t search online for useless information. But a bit of scoop in front of her eyes and she’s set.
(4) I should also mention that I pay taxes. To the schol district. They can look in their records if they need to. (Don’t worry… they won’t.)
© 2010, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.
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I am trying to think back to our first registration…I know that I had to do a mortgage statement because we were still kinda new to the house and didn’t really have the other stuff available. I also want to say that they didn’t accept driver’s license (b/c it is super easy to register your car somewhere else, govt. issued or not) and that PECO wasn’t good enough – it had to be sewer or township tax issued. Now I want to go look and see if that is the district requirement!!
But I know that I handed over a mortgage statement and I was a total jerk about it – I copied only the very top part and blacked out EVERYTHING except for our names and the address!! So it pretty much said “WACHOVIA BANK” and that was it!
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