School News

Districts keep close watch on who’s attending

Posted

Students attending Valley Stream’s 14 public schools must live within certain boundaries, and school officials say that their efforts to crackdown on illegal registrants are working.

The Residency Advisory Committee of the four school districts met on Nov. 26 to talk about issues relating to student residency and registration, and reviewed statistics from the last year. According to Nick Luciano, the residency officer for the Central High School District and elementary Districts 13 and 24, most students who applied for entry into one of those three districts from November 2011 to October 2012 were accepted.

Of the 1,029 applicants, only 12 were denied. Most of those denials were in the high school district. Parents or guardians must show several proofs of residency including a mortgage, lease or rental agreement, utility bills, and identification. These items are thoroughly reviewed by Luciano and his staff before a new student is allowed to attend Valley Stream schools.

“We try our best to keep them out initially,” he said of out-of-district residents who try to get into Valley Stream schools.

Luciano’s task is not only to register new students, but also to investigate students who are suspected to live outside of the district. From December 2011 to October 2012, he found 19 students in the high school district who didn’t belong and they were withdrawn from their school. The district has about 4,700 students.

Tony Iadevaio, the board president for District 24 and the Central High School District, said the number of illegal students in the schools used to be much higher. He said that problem led to the formation of the Residency Advisory Committee and much stricter registration requirements. He said the change is noticeable. “The numbers have really dropped down to a manageable few,” he said.

Page 1 / 3