A Brooklyn principal who lives on Lengthy Island makes use of the handle of a guardian at her Brownsville job to ship her personal daughter to a higher-performing faculty 10 minutes from the place she works, The Submit has realized.
The alleged subterfuge permits Samantha McElhaney John, who has led PS 327 Dr. Rose B. English since September 2023, to keep away from paying at the very least $5,000 in non-resident tuition to the town.
John, 47, lives in Nassau County’s Roosevelt, the place the struggling public colleges had been as soon as taken over by the state.
However her daughter’s dwelling handle is listed in data at Brooklyn Landmark Elementary College in Bedford-Stuyvesant as Thomas S. Boyland Road, an house constructing just a few blocks from PS 327.
That’s the place Jessica Mott lives together with her two children, who attend PS 327.
“I can’t reply no questions proper now,” Mott advised a reporter who knocked on her house door.
Mott refused to say whether or not she knew that John had used her handle, or whether or not she had given the principal permission to take action.
To enroll a scholar in NYC, mother and father or guardians should present at the very least two proofs of residency corresponding to a rental settlement or a utility invoice.
Joyce Beckles-Knights, the principal of Brooklyn Landmark, didn’t reply an electronic mail asking how John verified the Brownsville handle when she enrolled her daughter in July as a first-time DOE entrant.
Claiming a false handle to enroll in a public faculty will be prosecuted as fraud or larceny, in response to authorized specialists.
By utilizing a Brooklyn handle, John, 47 – who made $179,251 final yr – avoids having to pay NYC’s non-resident elementary-school tuition of $5,425 a yr for a general-ed scholar or $48,392 for a special-ed pupil.
John routinely arrives at PS 327 within the morning together with her daughter, who wears a shiny orange Brooklyn Landmark shirt, sources advised The Submit.
The woman sits within the principal’s workplace till John leaves to drive the kid to close by Brooklyn Landmark, then returns to PS 327.
It’s unclear whether or not John enrolled her daughter in Brooklyn Landmark for the convenience of getting her in a college close to her job, or for the academic high quality.
College students at Brooklyn Landmark faculty rating properly above the citywide common on state math and studying exams, whereas children at PS 327 rating properly beneath common.
Roosevelt public colleges have a long-troubled historical past. The state schooling commissioner took over the district’s low-performing and harmful colleges in 2002, reaching little enchancment after 11 years. State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli discovered the district below “fiscal stress” in 2022.
Deal with falsification, probably legal, is very unethical when a principal does it, specialists say.
“It’s actually a battle of curiosity for a public-school administrator to interact in that form of exercise on the similar time that they’re implementing the foundations towards different mother and father,” mentioned Tim DeRouche, co-author of “When Good Dad and mom Go to Jail,” a 2023 nationwide examine on “handle sharing.”
DeRouche, the president of “Out there to All,” a watchdog group that promotes equal entry to public colleges, is against prosecuting mother and father for handle falsification.
However he has no sympathy for schooling leaders who use the ploy to enroll their very own children in additional fascinating or conveniently situated colleges.
“I might agree that’s an abuse of authority. Actually, her job might be in jeopardy,” DeRouche mentioned of John.
John didn’t return messages searching for remark. DOE spokespersons didn’t reply repeated inquiries.
