More of the story

When I wrote that last post, two local events crossed my mind. Perhaps they should have been part of that post.

I live in NE Ohio, in Boston Township. The township is divided by the Cuyahoga River valley; some township is north, some is south.

I live south of the river, as does most of the population. The largest number of inhabitants south of the river live where I do, in a mobile home park. It’s not about the amenities of housing south of the river, it’s about availability (almost 300 homes in the park), and the school district.

Three school districts serve the entire township. Mine is Hudson. I’ve mentioned Hudson schools in many contexts over the years, including its exclusiveness, its cost to taxpayers, and the quality of education ranked among the highest in Ohio. Although Hudson has declined recently in a realignment of Ohio scores, it remains a top tier high school, and exclusive.

Hudson is not an open enrollment school. As that implies, you must live in the district to attend Hudson schools. When we moved here, thirty years ago, Roger next door had a live-in girlfriend with two very undisciplined boys.

My sister and I became friends with a couple of women with shared interests. They were knitters and we were spinners. Rosemary also was Student Records Administrator for Hudson Schools. On one visit to the shop, Rosemary mentioned the lack of motorbike racing noise from next door.

“Oh, yes, Roger’s girlfriend and the boys moved to Akron.” “When?” “Over the summer.”  “Interesting; the boys still come to Hudson,” said Rosemary. “Oh, yes,” we volunteered. “Their mother drops them for the school bus every morning.” And that was the end of the boys attending Hudson.

Truth be told, I felt little sympathy for those boys, who had ruined more than one family picnic by raising all hell, dirt and noise with their racing bikes on the track Roger carved out for them behind his house. But ten or so years ago, I had to rethink! A woman in the southern part of our county enrolled her daughters in another out of district school. She lived in Akron in a dangerous neighborhood with substandard schools.

When caught she took her case to court, and lost. Then she had a thirty thousand dollar invoice for unpaid tuition. Her eventual sentence was probation and community service. I suppose the tuition was resolved in some fashion.

I checked Google to see if anyone is in prison for hopping school districts, and found cases of probations and fines for falsifying addresses. I was not successful with Snopes, so I sent a request to investigate.

Why is this in a story about rich people falsifying records to advance school admission? Because it’s a story about poor, poor people doing the same. And I think it’s something we need to think about.