99% of Greenwich Public School Students Meet Residency Regs [UPDATE]

Updated: Oct. 2, 4:25 p.m.
Sixteen more students and their families have provided Greenwich Public Schools the required documentation proving they are town residents and eligible to attend schools here.

According to an update from the public schools communications office, 4,715 of the 4,755 students in kindergarten through fifth grade and ninth grade, or 99.2 percent of the students, provided the documentation as of 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2. The district kept the residency verification office open until 9 p.m. Oct. 1 to give parents extra time to comply with the expanded verification regulation.

In June, the Board of Education decided to expand the program that previously required residency verification for kindergarten and ninth-grade students, to provide school officials with more accurate data regarding facility utilization and racial balance, and to alleviate concerns that many of the district's schools are used by nonresidents. The board appropriated $25,000 to pay for two additional part-time clerks to handle the expanded program.

According to information provided by the school district, as of Wednesday afternoon, Hamilton Avenue School had 13 of its 334 students haven't supplied verification. The second highest number of students was eight, at Julian Curtiss School in central Greenwich where there are 344 students. Schools with 100 percent verification are the International School at Dundee, North Street and Riverside schools. (For a complete updated list, please see the chart below.) 

The district will now notify delinquent parents of the documentation and removal process that looms by month's end if residency isn't confirmed by Oct. 15. Those details are below. 


Original story: Oct. 2, 8:15 a.m.
Greenwich Public Schools kept their offices open until 9 o'clock Tuesday night in hopes that the last of 56 students whose families did not verify their residency in town would provide the required documentation.

As of 1:30 p.m., Oct. 1, residency has been verified for 99% of the students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade and ninth-grade, according to district officials.

The Greenwich Public Schools began its Residency Verification program for students in these grades in June. As of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, 56 students enrolled in those grades had not verified their residency, according to the district.
In expectation that more families would present documentation Tuesday night, the district kept the verification office opened until 9 p.m. How many did so, was not immediately available Wednesday morning.

For families who have not verified their residency within the Town of Greenwich by Tuesday night, the administration will begin the warning and withdrawal process. On Wednesday, Oct. 2,  the district will send three letters home to these families (certified with return receipt, regular USPS and email) notifying them of their failure to verify residency. The letters will state that they have failed to comply with the verification procedures and that if they  do not comply by Oct. 15, the district will begin student withdrawal proceedings on Oct. 16. If the families do not comply by the end of business on Oct. 15, a second notice will be sent stating that their child or children will be withdrawn from the district effective, Oct. 30.

The district has sent weekly Parentlink phone calls and/or emails to families of students in grades K-5 and 9 since June. As the Oct. 1 deadline approached, school principals and district staff continued to send notifications home to families that had not yet verified residency in numerous ways, including making individual phone calls.