Board says 300 students are still unverified
Board to send out fourth letter for re-registration of students
BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer

WOODBRIDGE - When the township school district started the verification process last year, they found that 2,100 children may have been enrolled in the township schools illegally.

The children's status was in question because their parents or guardians had not reregistered their children with the required verification of residency.

But after three mailed letters to parents and guardians, that number is down to 312 (2.3 percent) unverified children coming from 220 households.

"I can't say that all these children left the township because they attended the schools illegally, nor can I say who left," said Schools Superintendent Vincent Smith.

About 600 students left the district this past year.

Smith said he received the latest report on the verification process at the Board of Education meeting July 19.

"We have done a lot of work," he said.

In June 2006, school officials decided that a reregistration was needed to ferret out any children who may be illegally enrolled in district schools.

"I think we will find the majority of people are legitimate," said Smith at the time. "It's not a witch hunt. It's just to make sure the kids who go to Woodbridge schools live here."

The current estimated cost per pupil is $10,790 per year.

The Board of Education awarded a $28,500 contract to School Business Advisors, Point Pleasant, to conduct verification work for the school district.

The advisers were a group of retired and current school administrators and consultants hired by school districts to work on a variety of projects.

The district also has an anonymous "residency hot line" that has been existence for about four years. Students, parents and teachers can anonymously report suspected nonresident students.

"We get anonymous calls that so-and-so doesn't live here anymore," said Smith.

Currently, the Woodbridge School District has one full-time attendance officer to keep tabs on students in the 24 schools in the township.

"It's a lot," said school Business Administrator Dennis DeMarino. "It's a full-time job for sure. The principals provide a lot of the legwork at the elementary level. They see who is dropping the kids off and who is not dropping them off."

Three letters were sent out to parents or legal guardians of each student enrolled in the district over the course of the year.

The parents or legal guardians have to complete a registration form and submit it with documentation verifying their residency. For some, the appropriate documentation could be as simple as providing a property tax bill or a voter registration card.

People who rent have to provide utility bills in their name with a Woodbridge address.

After the first letter was sent out, 2,100 children (16.2 percent) had not been reregistered by their parents or guardians. After the second letter, there were 634 children [4.7 percent] who had not been reregistered, and after the third letter, there were 312 children.

Smith said the administration would continue to work on the remaining group of families.

"This doesn't mean that 312 children are going illegally to the schools," said Smith. "The families might have just completely ignored the letter, which does play a big role. We will talk to the board attorney to find out what we can say or cannot say, and notify these families again."

A fourth letter is expected to be sent to the final group of parents and guardians soon.

"We just need to do a little more work to get down to the nitty-gritty," Smith said.