School District Withdraws Over 350 Students Due to Residency Eligibility

Students Withdrawn From School Residency Eligibility Attendance Zone Overcrowding in School School Overcapacity residency verification checks high school students Fulton County georgia Westlake High overcapacity school issue school issues redistricting effort redistricting policy flawed verification process

By Jo Anne Hubert , Parent Herald Jan 24, 04:42 am

Photo: (Photo : Getty Images/Chung Sung-Jun)

Hundreds of high school students were not in class when school returned after the school district withdrew them because of residency verification checks.

More than 350 high school students from Fulton County, Georgia, were not allowed to attend class at Westlake High after the winter holiday break unless they could authenticate that they lived in the school zone.

According to Yahoo News, Westlake High is currently dealing with overcapacity issues. Thus, this is one of their ways to solve the problem. Students who were in the 9th and 10th grades were affected mainly by the removal process.

More than its building capacity

Fulton County School district sent letters to parents in November last year informing them that a redistricting policy would soon be implemented. With this, residency verification checks will be conducted.

"The main driver for this redistricting effort was the current and projected overcrowding of Westlake High School, which is more than 500 students above its building capacity," the letter emphasized.

It was explained in the letter as well that a staff analysis was made, and it revealed an enrollment pattern that is higher than usual. One of the speculations raised for overcrowding is the number of students studying at Westlake High despite not living in the correct attendance zone, 11 Alive reported.

Parents were then asked to prove residency by presenting documents, one that is property-related and two, utility-related.

In December, another set of letters was sent to parents of students who have ineligible residency or whose addresses are out of the attendance zone and to parents who still need to submit the required documents.

By January 10, a final letter was issued. The next day, students were withdrawn.

Out of the 350 students, the school district stated that 150 did not meet the required residency address, while the other 200 never provided the required documents.

Parents were furious

The school district reminded parents that it is their responsibility to enroll their students in the school under their attendance zone, where they primarily reside.

Almost a dozen parents whose children were withdrawn complained to Fox 5 about the current situation.

They emphasized that they had provided all the correct requirements, yet their kids were still removed. Thus, they are instructing the school district to make corrections.

Further, they argue that the verification process was "flawed" and declared that when they tried to reach out to the school district regarding their paperwork before the deadline, no one gave their assistance.

One parent was concerned about what continuities are put in place by the school district for those students who were withdrawn, especially those who haven't enrolled in other schools yet and are missing class.

Parents also reported to Fox 5 that when they were demanding answers at the district headquarters, they were told to leave and threatened to be arrested.

The students who did not know they were removed from the school felt emotional when they attended class. Some said they were shocked when they were told they were not part of the school anymore, and some were embarrassed when their names weren't mentioned in the roll call.