We Are Ossining – Somos Ossining

Statement of Unity - Call to Action

We are diverse group of Ossining residents who support high quality education for all students.

We want students to be able to continue their educations with dignity and respect, and a minimum of disruption, consistent with the Ossining school district rules and New York state law.

All students who are in the Ossining School District were originally required to show proof of residency upon entering the schools, and they have a legal right to continue their education in Ossining if their family still lives here. 

As with any bureaucratic process that involves mailing out information -- and interpreting and applying complex rules -- the Ossining residency re-registration process will take some time. 

Many families may not understand the need to reconfirm their residency status, or understand the proofs of residency that are required.   We want to make sure they get the support they need to understand and participate in the re-registration process, and negotiate any changes that may be needed to make it work more fairly. 

We are concerned about inflammatory statements that seek to prejudge the results of this process, and inspire fear and suspicion of the actions of other parents and community members, even before the process has been allowed to run its course. 

The Ossining Board of Education and administration must enforce the rules fairly, and protect the civil rights of all students and parents.   
Students and families are entitled to due process.  They have a legal right to receive fair notice from the district if a determination is made about their residency status, and they have a legal right to appeal that decision if they do not agree with it.

Whatever decisions are made, we want the school district to act fairly and compassionately, recognizing that students may be harmed by disruptive changes that interrupt their education in the middle of a school term.  

Finally, we are strong supporters of cultural and economic diversity in Ossining.   We call on all elected officials, community leaders and residents to embrace the values of tolerance, respect and diversity.  Students, parents, teachers and others, especially immigrants and new residents, have a right to participate in a school system that is free of fear and intimidation. 

With the exception of indigenous people, everyone in the U.S. comes from immigrant roots.  We have come from many countries, traditions and cultures, but we are one community.   We value and respect the cultural, economic and civic contributions of everyone who lives here.   We need mutual understanding and cooperative, inclusive processes and solutions. 

Sincerely,

We Are Ossining – Somos Ossining

[list of Supporters in formation]

Ossining residents vent frustration over pace of student re-registration

Ossining residents vent frustration over pace of student re-registration

The Journal News
Marcela Rojas • mrojas@lohud.com • February 26, 2010

OSSINING — Tensions flared at a Board of Education meeting this week during a discussion about the district's student re-registration process.
More than 60 residents showed up to Wednesday night's work session, many of them venting their anger and frustration about the cost to taxpayers and what they called the "inexcusable" length of time it has taken to complete the recertification plan that started in the fall for grades one, three, five, seven and nine.

"There have been no timelines, no consequences," said resident David Barry at the meeting. "This process has been a joke."

Barry's comments followed a lengthy presentation by Schools Superintendent Phyllis Glassman about the re-registration effort that included information about admissions regulations and the legal implications of removing a child from school.

As of Monday, Glassman said 131 of the 1,288 households asked to re-register had not. The figure represents a total of 159 students who have not been re-certified, she said.

The district has reached out to those families one last time, setting up interviews to show proof of residency, officials said.

Non-compliant students will be excluded between Feb. 25 and March 8, she said.

Glassman stressed had they begun excluding students after the first registration night the district held in October, some 828 students would have been wrongly removed. Several rounds of letters, certified letters, phone calls and additional registration events were held in December and January.

The district's legal counsel advised school officials to repeatedly reach out to families, they said.

It is not a privilege but a right for a student to get an education and every effort must be made to "protect the child," said attorney John Gross.

"The burden of proving non-residency is on the district," Gross said. "Due process isn't something that happens immediately."

Even so, residents were still angered by a process they saw as too slow.

"We, as taxpayers, should not have to pay for a parent or guardian who is lazy. There's no excuse why they couldn't do it in a timely fashion," said Franco Iamiceli. "Everyone is angry that it wasn't done completely from the beginning."

Aggravation also turned to distrust as some questioned what measures are being taken to ensure that those students who were re-registered are, in fact, living in Ossining. Others argued that the money spent on non-resident students would better serve those students who live in Ossining.

Board President Alice Joselow said she did not understand the lack of trust.

"We are absolutely committed to the goal that every student is a resident of Ossining," she said.

Some in the room applauded the district's efforts and agreed that re-registering students should not be rushed.

"Be sensitive and think about the children," said resident Deysi Briones to the crowd. "I'm here because I'm part of you too. Please let's get together and be proactive."

Ossining School District Residency: Three Types of Proof Required

CURRENT PROOF OF RESIDENCY WITHIN THE OSSINING DISTRICT: 

OUFSD Board Policy requires THREE documents in name of a parent or guardian for all student registrations and address changes:

- Current Signed Lease, dated for current school year 

- Parent/guardian’s current New York State Driver’s License 

- Current Electric/Gas Utility Bill (disconnect notices will not be accepted) 

- Current Telephone Bill ( disconnect notices will not be accepted)
- Current Cable or Satellite Dish Bill (disconnect notices will not be accepted)
- Current Village or Town Water Bill 

- Current Heating Oil Bill

- Current Pay Stub with parent/guardian’s name, address and date 

- Current Medical or Hospital Bill 

- Current Medical Explanation of Benefits Statement
- Notarized Residency Affidavits ( will be provided and reviewed by the School District and must be accompanied by host/landlord proof of address)

Please note:    Auto insurance, auto registration, credit card bills, cell phone bills DO NOT qualify as proof of residency and bills with PO boxes will not be accepted

PRUEBA VIGENTE DE DOMICILIO EN EL DISTRITO ESCOLAR DE OSSINING: 

La Política del Consejo del Distrito, requiere TRES DOCUMENTOS ORIGINALES a nombre del padre o tutor, para todas las inscripciones de los estudiantes y para los cambios de dirección:
- Un contrato de arrendamiento vigente, con fecha del presente año escolar. 

- Licencia de conducción vigente del Estado de Nueva York perteneciente al
padre/tutor
- Factura actual de electricidad/gas (No se aceptarán notificaciones de desconexión)
- Cuenta actual de cobro de teléfono (No se aceptarán notificaciones de desconexión)
- Factura actual del servicio de televisión por Cable o antena parabólica (No se aceptarán notificaciones de desconexión)
- Factura por servicio de agua emitida por el pueblo de Ossining
- Factura actual del impuesto escolar
- Factura actual de aceite para calefacción
- Recibo actual de pago de salario, con la fecha, el nombre y la dirección del padre/tutor
- Factura actual por servicios médicos u hospitalización 

- Explicación médica actual de la declaración de beneficios 

- Escritura actual o contrato hipotecario
- Acta notarial “Affidávit de domicilio” ( nosotros proveeremos los formularios, los cuales serán revisados por el Distrito y deben estar acompañados por un documento en el cual conste la dirección del propietario/anfitrión – las familias deben dirigirse a la persona encargada de registrar a los estudiantes)

Favor tener en cuenta lo siguiente: Seguro de auto, matrícula de auto, cuentas de tarjetas de crédito, cuentas de teléfono celular NO se consideran como pruebas de residencia así como tampoco se aceptarán facturas cuya dirección sea un código postal.

From:  Park Early Childhood Center Registration Information

Too soon to fret over re-registration

Journal News, February 2, 2010

Too soon to fret over re-registration

The poor response rate to the Ossining school district re-registration process may be disconcerting but should not be surprising. All children go through a registration process when first entering the district and many parents do not see the need to re-register, especially annually, which is neither practical nor cost-efficient. Until the process is completed, these parents who "hypothesize" that many students may live outside the district and feel that the district is hiding data should respect the process and wait for the results. If, in fact, there are a significant number of nonresident students, then the district should look at instituting a periodic sampling to enforce the residency rules. Ossining has a very competent board and administration, which, I am certain, will perform a thorough and fair assessment. Lastly, I would hope that no child would be required to leave our schools this late in the school term. At this late stage, there would be little savings to the district and immeasurable hardship to the children.

 

Durando Saccente

Ossining

Journal News, February 1, 2010 

A crackdown that really isn't

Re "Ossining residents push schools to crack down on residency," Jan. 27 article:

I am perplexed by what was not reported — that 203 of 1,293 families have failed to reregister their children in the Ossining school district. This represents 22.6 percent of the targeted population. Of 4,300 students, if the failure-to-register rate of 22.6 percent is applied to the entire population, there are potentially 974 students who do not belong in the school district. Or, a reduction of the school district's population by 974 students represents 46 empty classrooms, staffed by 46 teachers.

It is a given that all children in the State of New York have the constitutional right to attend public schools in the district in which they live. Schools Superintendent Phyllis Glassman's statements leave the reader with the impression that if the school district finds a student ineligible to attend Ossining schools because they live in another school district, then that student is denied the right to attend school. This is patently false; they would simply have to attend school where they live. That the school district was reaching out to the families who did register "but did not have a firm time as to when that effort would end," actually has a ring of truth to it. If she does not have a timeframe to solve a problem, then she is not seeking to solve it. Or, worse, she simply does not care to solve the problem.

If the audit leads to a substantial reduction of students, the school district loses state aid, which could lead to layoffs.

William J. Hamilton

Ossining

Ossining school re-registration process raises concerns

Cross-posted from Journal News, January 17, 2010

Ossining school re-registration process raises concerns

Marcela Rojas
mrojas@lohud.com
OSSINING — Dozens of parents filed into the Roosevelt School gym Thursday night to show proof that their children reside in the Ossining Union Free School District.
The re-registration process, started in the fall for students in grades one, three, five, seven and nine has frustrated some parents while also raising concerns about how many students are, in fact, not living within the district's boundaries.
Aliou Cisse, who has three children enrolled, said he did not think the recertification plan was necessary. Cisse had put off complying, he said, until he received a certified letter in the mail earlier this month saying if he did not, the district would "begin the process of excluding your child(ren) as nonresident(s)."
"My kids have been picked up by the bus at the same address for the last nine years," said Cisse. "I'm very upset. I'm not happy because it's never happened before."
Schools Superintendent Phyllis Glassman said the plan to re-register students initially came from some residents in 2008 who "hypothesized" that many students may not live in the district.
In August, parents received a "residency re-registration" letter and form, asking them to attend designated registration evenings in October and to submit three original proofs of residency. Some 1,200 out of the district's 4,400 students had to re-register, Glassman said. There were additional registration dates offered in December.
Despite several opportunities, the district still had not received total compliance by late 2009.
"We've been told that this is a very long process and could take a year," Glassman said.
The district has since reinforced its efforts, sending out 400 certified letters Jan.5, additional first-class letters Jan. 7, as well as voice-message reminders to attend Thursday's registration night, Glassman said.
"We want to provide every opportunity to families to re-register," Glassman said. "It's very important to protect the civil rights of the families and to abide by the law."
Even so, some community members are questioning why it is taking so long and if the district is hiding data.
"Address verification should be done every year," said Ossining resident Mike Aurora, who has kids in second and fourth grades. "How many last chances is someone going to get to verify their address?"
Harriet Karp said in an e-mail she was among a group of concerned citizens who presented the Ossining Board of Education and administration with suggestions in March on what should be required to recertify students, including a deed for homeowners, a landlord's affidavit and current utility bills. They also submitted a petition signed by more than 400 residents on making sure that only students who live in the district are attending Ossining schools.
She expressed concern that they still do not know how many students have re-registered.
"They have been pussyfooting around this issue, making every excuse possible, at a cost to the taxpayers," said Karp, a former PTA president.
Late Friday, Assistant Superintendent Angela White said more than 1,000 students had been re-registered. Glassman also said no students had, to date, been removed from the district as a result of the process. The district, Glassman said, would seek advice from legal counsel on how to proceed with any remaining noncompliance.
"I don't begrudge them that you have to show proof of residency," said William Nuesslein, who accompanied his wife to register her son Thursday. "For us, it's just a formality. I don't know how many they are going to catch, if any."

Ossining residents push schools to crack down on residency

Cross posted from: Journal News, January 27, 2010

Ossining residents push schools to crack down on residency

Marcela Rojas
mrojas@lohud.com
OSSINING — Several residents are in an uproar over what they say is the Ossining School District's lack of progress completing a student re-registration process.
More than 50 people are looking to form an "address verification committee" to pressure the Board of Education and administration to remove noncompliant students, resident Mike Aurora said.
The district's recertification started in the fall for students in grades one, three, five, seven and nine, a plan prompted by Aurora and others in 2008. As of Monday, 1,090 of the 1,293 households asked to re-register had done so, Superintendent Phyllis Glassman said. But she maintained that 1,090 was a "minimum" figure, as the district is still sorting through data. The district has a total of 4,300 students, she said.
Aurora said he had been stonewalled by district officials in getting accurate recertification figures and has grown fed up with their drawn-out approach.
The Ossining district sent letters in August advising parents of registration evenings in October. Additional registration dates were held in December. In early January, 400 certified letters were sent to unresponsive families, and another registration night was held Jan. 14.
"At what point is enough, enough?" said Aurora, who has children in grades two and four. "We're at the point now that if the administration is not going to openly share these findings and commit to an enough-is-enough deadline for these kids to be removed, we're going to commence action to start petitions to remove the superintendent and look for viable candidates to run against the Board of Education members up for election."
He also stressed that giving people three to four months to produce documents allows them time to change names on utility bills. The district has asked families to provide three original proofs of residency.
Glassman said last week the district will continue to reach out to families who have not re-registered but did not have a firm timeframe as to when that effort would end.
She stressed that many families have come forward since October, and that had they been excluded then, the district would have been "violating the law, (state education) commissioner's regulations and their civil rights."
"We're going to continue to determine why the students' families who have not re-registered have not done so, and will act accordingly," she said.
Aurora said that New York education law says tuition can be collected from nonresident pupils. "If they are reluctant to remove the children that cannot provide proof of residency, then they should immediately implement a tuition program to offset the burden on the taxpayers," he said.

---

1-28-10 Ossining Board of Education Statement on Residency

BOARD OF EDUCATION STATEMENT

RESIDENCY

The Board of Education is committed to the re-registration process and its goal of ensuring that every student who attends the Ossining Public Schools is a resident of the school district. The Board will not, however, summarily exclude students in derogation of legal process, regardless of threats from members of our community who desire such an outcome. 

In the implementation of the re-registration process, the School District was legally required to properly notify all affected parents/guardians of the re-registration process, the requirements that must be met to re-register their students, and the consequences of the failure to re-register. It has and continues to be a heavily labor intensive process that needs to be accomplished in a complete and thorough manner so that potential outcomes will withstand legal challenge. The Superintendent of Schools, administration and Board of Education have adhered to the law, Commissioner’s Regulations and advice of counsel every step of the way and will continue to do so.

We recognize that the re-registration process has been a lengthy process. It should be noted, however, that neighboring school districts have taken up to one (1) school year to complete re-registration of students. We just started this process in October and have made great strides in securing the re-registration of the overwhelming majority of the students.

For those parents/guardians who have not responded to the School District’s reregistration requirement, they will be shortly receiving an exclusion determination in accordance with the procedures set forth in 8 NYCRR §100.2y of the Commissioner’s Regulations. These procedures, as well as decisional law, require the School District to provide written notification to the parent/guardian of the basis for its residency determination. In addition, the School District must provide these parents/guardians with the opportunity to meet with school officials to provide additional documentation regarding their residency status, and their right to appeal an exclusion determination to the Commissioner of Education. As such, the School District will be outreaching to these families to communicate its residency determination and scheduling conferences to provide these families with the opportunity to submit additional information to school officials concerning their residency status. These are legally mandated due process requirements associated with the exclusion process which must and will be followed.

The Board and administration will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the students who attend the Ossining Public Schools are residents of the school district.  We are fully committed to the re-registration process.

We are equally committed to ensuring that the process is conducted appropriately and in full compliance with the law.


BOARD OF EDUCATION

Alice Joselow, President
Cindy Winter, Vice President
Kimberly Case
Charles Cooks
Amanda Curley
Bill Kress
Dana Levenberg
Vanessa Muro

January 28, 2010

NY State Regulations Regarding Student Residency

 NYCRR 100.2y -- State Regulations Regarding Student Residency

(y) Determination of student residency. The board of education or its designee shall determine whether a child is entitled to attend the schools of the district. Any decision by a school S official, other than the board or its designee, that a child is not entitled to attend the schools of the district shall include notification of the procedures to obtain review of the decision within the school district. Prior to making a determination of entitlement to attend the schools of the district, the board or its designee shall afford the child's parent, the person in parental relation to the child or the child, as appropriate, the opportunity to submit information concerning the child's right to attend school in the district. When the board of education or its designee determines that a child is not entitled to attend the schools of such district because such child is neither a resident of such district nor entitled to attend its schools  pursuant to subdivision (x) of this section, such board or its designee shall, within two business days, provide written notice of its determination to the child's parent, to the person in parental relation to the child, or to the child, as appropriate. Such written notice shall state:

(1) that the child is not entitled to attend the public schools of the district;

(2) the basis for the determination that the child is neither a resident of the school district nor entitled to attend its schools pursuant to subdivision (x) of this section;

(3) the date as of which the child will be excluded from the schools of the district; and

(4) that the determination of the board may be appealed to the Commissioner of Education, in accordance with Education Law, section 310, within 30 days of the date of the determination, and that the procedure for taking such an appeal may be obtained from the Office of Counsel at www.counsel.nysed.gov, or by mail addressed to the Office of Counsel, New York State Education Department, State Education Building, Albany, NY 12234 or by calling (518) 474-8927.

Residency Re-registration Process

From Ossining School Bell, Summer 2009, Vol. 17
Residency Re-registration Begins Next Fall

In keeping with the New York State Education Department Regulations, the Ossining Union Free School District is required to ensure that all students are legal residents of the Ossining School District.  While the residency and custodial requirements outlined in our district policies are carefully adhered to during the registration process, there are limited opportunities to confirm a families residency once a child is enrolled.  In the fall of 2009, all students in grades 1,3,5,7, and 9 will be required to re-register to ensure that they continue to be eligible for educational services in the Ossining Union Free School District.  In addition, a random-selection process will be used to re-register students in other grades as well. 

During the summer, parent(s)/guardian(s) of a child(ren) in the aforementioned grades will receive a Residency Re-registration letter and form.  Parent(s)/Guardian(s) will attend a designated night for re-registration and submit the completed re-registration form with the appropriate proofs of residency.  Parent(s)/Guardians who do not complete the re-registration process will receive final notice indicating that their child(ren) will not be permitted to continue to remain enrolled in the Ossining Union Free School District.  If you have questions about the re-registration process, please contact Dr. Angela White, Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education and Administrative Services at 941-7700, extension 330.