Greenwich Student Residency Verification Begins Today

Greenwich school officials say they are ready for what is expected to be a steady stream of parents bringing documentation that their children live in town and should be allowed to attend the town's public schools.

The residency verification program was expanded by the Board of Education to include all kindergarten through fifth-grade students on June 20. The program—for which the board approved spending $25,000 to hire two additional part-time clerks to process the paperwork—is designed to confirm that all enrolled elementary school students are eligible to attend Greenwich public schools.

The decision to expand the program that previously required residency verification for kindergarten and ninth-grade students, also will provide school officials with more accurate data regarding facility utilization and racial balance. The board is exploring several options to deal with balancing the enrollment at its 11 elementary schools, some of which are overcrowded, while others are under utilized, and the district is under a state Board of Education mandate to balance the minority populations in some schools. During a series of public hearings held in June on which options the district should pursue to resolve those issues, many parents complained they suspected out-of-state students attend local schools because of the number of out-of-state license plates seen on cars dropping off students at Greenwich schools.  

"The residency verification has to be done in person," said Benjamin Branyan, the district's managing director of operations. On Friday afternoon, the finishing touches were being put into place in what was a staff development training room on the first floor of the Havemeyer Building, 290 Greenwich Ave. Signs will direct parents to the room where three clerks will process the paperwork.

The expansion of the residency verification program means an additional 3,100 students and their parents will need to go through the process, Branyan said. He estimated a total of more than 4,900 of the district's more than 8,800 students will need to be approved by the Oct. 1 deadline imposed by the Board of Education. The verification program is for all pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade and ninth-grade students.

The documents needed to prove residency include:

• Photo ID (driver’s license, passport, or Connecticut issued identification card)
• Notarized affidavit of parent/guardianship
• Two utility bills (cable television, water, electric, gas or oil, no telephone.)
• Proof of homeownership (mortgage, property tax bill or deed), or a renter, a current lease.

Branyan said there isn't any way to track how many students do not meet the requirements. "We don't keep data on incomplete applications or if parents are missing some documentation and don't return," Branyan said. 

Branyan said through the residency verification program the district seven students were removed from schools throughout the district between October 2012 and February 2013, the latest period for which statistics are available.

Parents may submit their paperwork at the board of education headquarters from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. (The residency verification form may be downloaded by clicking on the above link.)