Residency in the News

It has been almost 2 years since BerwynCARES first started researching the issue of residency. Our focus was mostly on Morton West because the district had stopped checking the residency of all students and reports of the number of students from outside the district varied.

We were glad to learn that last year, partly because of our efforts, District 201 started checking the residency of all incoming students.

Districts 98 and 100 follow a residency policy that requires 5 forms of proof of residency at registration. It is our hope that strict enforcement of residency will increase the educational opportunities for the children of our communities.

Berwyn is not unique when it comes to this issue. A recent Tribune article illustrated how complicated the issue of residency can be. A boy from Homewood was kicked out of his school because the work schedule of his mother, a night nurse, means that he spends many nights sleeping in another town where his father resides. Today, the governor intervened and the school district allowed him back into the school after 6 weeks at home with the state board of education paying his tuition until a judge makes a decision.

Of course, the real burden on resources are students who reside in another town, but use false Berwyn addresses (or Lyons or Stickney in the case of Morton West) to register in Berwyn schools. Even if residency checking is done at registration, our districts must, and in some cases do, follow up on leads. Last year, District 100 kicked out an 8th grade student just weeks before graduation and sued the family for a year of tuition when it was discovered that the student did not reside in Berwyn. School officials urge residents to report students that are suspected of falsifying residency. Call your district office if you know a student attends a Berwyn school and does not live in the district.