Uhm, are we the only ones loving the whole public school amnesty story over at the Department of Education? As if it didn't start off juicy enough: Last month the principal of Brooklyn Tech was pushed out under revelations that he and his wife had faked their address so that their daughter could attend a top Brooklyn elementary school although the couple lives in New Jersey. McCaskill quickly retired and the city did not seek any disciplinary measures.
But as a result the DoE did set up an amnesty program under which nonresident employees wouldn't be disciplined if they pay tuition from now on. That program ended earlier this week and come Fall at least 132 people are going to be paying about $5,400 in tuition for general education "and as much as $32,961 for special education students." Another 118 people have made inquiries into the program.
And it gets better. Though initially the DoE had been planning on having those employees who 'fessed up pay back tuition for the first half of the school year and all previous years, at the last minute Chancellor Joel Klein was persuaded by the teachers' union to only require back payment from those employees who submitted phony NYC addresses specifically to enroll their kids.
Of the 90 applicants who have been interviewed so far, 59 were teachers, 7 assistant principals, 6 principals, 6 secretaries or other support staff workers, and 6 were guidance counselors or other "student support service" workers. He described three others as "administration" and the remaining three as "other," but did not elaborate.
More detailed numbers about the entire group should be coming next week and we're actually really curious about them. Before this only three school employees were paying the required tuition. When we were younger we knew tons of people who's parents persuaded the Board of Education (RIP!) that one of them had moved X blocks over so that the kids could go to one school or another. We always thought that faking addresses were a standard feature of public eduction in the City that people just turned a blind eye to. Not anymore!
