Temporary Residence

Reference has already been made to the fact that a student who is genuinely, but temporarily, living in the home zone has to be enrolled.  The problem is “How can genuineness be determined?”

To ensure that students are selected by fair and transparent means, the current legislation has removed discretion over enrolment which boards had under previous legislation.  The legislation, however, also addresses any attempt by parents to subvert the intent of the legislation by gaining an unfair priority through use of a temporary residence or a false address. This is made clear in the statement to be signed by parents at pre-enrolment (page 37) and the enrolment questionnaire (page 36).

Although suspicious of the genuineness of information given at enrolment, a board may not feel sufficiently confident to decline the application on the spot.  The two documents referred to above should help as reference points if the board subsequently feels it has reasonable grounds for reviewing an enrolment.  If on balance it is decided not to decline a suspicious application, the staff member processing the application would be wise to record his/her suspicions on the application form.  This could be useful as a record if further evidence of non-genuineness comes to light after attendanace has begun and an enrolment review is deemed to be appropriate.

Sometimes, at the time of  application, parents will provide evidence of recent arrival in the area and will give an in-zone address which they acknowledge as temporary, because they are in the process of finding a permanent place of residence.  When accepting their application for the enrolment of their child, the board should inform these parents that if they move to an out-of-zone address before the child’s first day of attendance at the school, the child will not be entitled to enrol at the school.  Section 11O(2) makes it clear that, unless the board is notified otherwise, the address given in the pre-enrolment form will be taken to be the address at the time of enrolment.  It is the Ministry’s view that enrolment does not occur until attendance commences.

Under Section 11OA(1) a board has a right to review the enrolment of a student who had an in-zone address at the time of enrolment, but has since moved out of zone.  Note that this is not a blanket right to investigate any change of address, but can be used in situations where the board has reasonable grounds to believe that a temporary in-zone address has been used for the purpose of gaining enrolment at the school.  What the board has to do is identify the factors which cause it to be suspicious of the genuineness of the living arrangement which led to enrolment.  In the event of any later challenge to the board’s decision to review the enrolment, the board’s reasons must be sufficiently robust to stand up to scrutiny.

Provided that the board has done groundwork such as that suggested above, the Ministry of Education believes that “reasonable grounds” will be likely to exist in the following situations:

• The board was suspicious of the genuineness of the living arrangement at the time of application and a check (once attendance has begun) reveals that a change of address has occurred, although the parents had not advised the school of this.  The grounds would be strengthened if, at the time of application, the board had specifically alerted the parents to the potential penalty for attempting to gain priority in enrolment by deliberately arranging a temporary place of residence.
• A check (once attendance has begun) reveals that a change of address has occurred, though the parents had not advised the school of this.  The board had no reason to be suspicious at the time of application because the parents gave no information to suggest that the given address was anything other than an address at which the child lived with the parents.  Investigation subsequent to the change of address reveals that the given address belongs to a relative or family friend, or is a rental property over which the family had a short term lease.
• A check (once attendance has begun) reveals that a change of address has occurred, although the parents had not advised the school of this.  With the benefit of hindsight, the board realises that it should have been suspicious at the time of enrolment because the application indicated that the student would be living with a relative or family friend, or the parents gave a rental agreement as proof of residence in the home zone.
• At the time of application, the parents advised the board that their address would be a temporary one, but the story that they give when contacted by the school at the time of change of address is different from the one that they gave at application.

A key element in the first three of these scenarios is that the parents did not notify the school of the change of address. Taken with the other factors, this might be seen as an attempt at concealment.  This is not necessarily so, however, and the parents may be able to give a perfectly reasonable explanation.  If the parents have been quite “up-front” in informing the school about the change of address, the board will have to judge whether the other circumstances are sufficient to suggest that there was an intention, at the time of application, to gain an unfair priority in enrolment.  In all cases, the board’s hand is strengthened if the parents, at the time of application, signed a statement saying that the given address was the student’s usual place of residence and gave an undertaking to notify the school of any subsequent change of address.

The examples given above are not intended to be exhaustive. They try to show, however, the sorts of things that might suggest that, at the time of application, there  could well have been an intent to defraud.  As stated above, the change of address, in itself, is not sufficient to initiate a review of enrolment.

The word “temporary” is not defined in legislation, so there is no minimum time period beyond which a student is “safe”.  Boards may determine whatever time frame they think appropriate, but it is suggested that addresses of newly enrolled students could perhaps be checked within 3-5 weeks of the commencement of attendance and perhaps again within a fortnight of the beginning of the second full term of attendance.  If a change of address comes to light after that time, the board may still consider that the matter is worth investigation if staff were suspicious of the genuineness of the living arrangement at the time of application and if the parents have not notified the school of the change of address.

Once the board has made a judgement that reasonable grounds exist for believing that a temporary residence has been used for the purpose of gaining enrolment at the school, it must write to the parents informing them that their child’s enrolment is being reviewed and explaining why.  Included in Appendix 2 (page 47) is the draft of a letter which could be used in this situation.

Although the board’s suspicions may have been aroused by a sudden change in living arrangement, particularly if the parents have not notified the school of the change, there may still be a perfectly  reasonable explanation.  Parents should be invited to give this and if the board accepts the reason as being genuine, the student will remain on the school roll.

Because the Act requires boards to give the parent “every reasonable opportunity to explain the situation”, a board cannot insist that parents respond in a particular manner eg by making an appointment to meet the principal.  The letter to the parents should, therefore offer a range of acceptable alternatives.  But the Act sets a limit of 10 days within which parents must respond if they want their point of view to be considered.

The board will need to set up a mechanism for making decisions on the review.  A board might think it appropriate to set up a sub-committee similar to that which some boards use for dealing with suspensions and exclusions.  It will be likely that boards would ask the principal to report on the parents’ response to the review notice (if any) but parents should be given the opportunity to address the board (or sub-committee) directly if they wish.

If the board determines that the parent’s explanation has not been sufficient to change the tentative opinion that it had already formed on the matter, or if no reply has been received within 10 days, then, under Section 11O(1A), the board may annul the student’s enrolment.  

For information about necessary notifications of the annulment, see the section on annulment on pages 15-16.