District 153 administrators are working hard to verify that every student attending Willow, Churchill and James Hart Schools lives within its boundaries, Superintendent Scott McAlister told board members at their Dec. 12 meeting.
The district takes in most of Homewood and the western portion of Glenwood that is west of Halsted Street.
“A question I get frequently, especially in light of the recent referendum, families who have said ‘We are happy to pay more taxes to support our schools but what are you doing about people who don’t live here?’ And I assure people that we take residency verification very seriously,” McAlister said.
The district’s residency investigator, a retired Homewood police officer, found 13 students who were attempting to register during the summer months but did not officially live in the district, and another 13 were disenrolled from district schools thanks to the investigator’s work. One family is appealing the dismissal.
Another 34 were investigated and found to be properly enrolled.
McAlister said there are currently 15 students under investigation. He said information questioning a student’s residency comes from a variety of sources.
“We added another layer of verification this year requiring all sixth graders — even those who have been with us since kindergarten — to re-verify residency, which is the first time we’d done that in several years,” he noted.
“I want to assure the public that we take that very seriously. We are going to ask people to pay good property taxes to support our schools, we want to make sure that every student who attends here is a bona fide resident of the district,” McAlister said. “I assure all of you and I assure the public that that is something we take seriously and are working each day to make sure that is verified.”