i’ve fallen down the bureaucratic rabbit hole October 31, 2007
I have fallen down the bureaucratic rabbit hole.
My son, H. started public school this year for the first time. He has been attending Knox County High School X since August. His father and I are divorced. We share legal custody, and he lives with me about 65% of the time and with his father about 35% of the time. I am zoned for Knox County High School Y, while his father is zoned for High School X.
About six or seven weeks ago, H’s High School X guidance counselor called me to say that they needed evidence H. lives in their zone (where H’s dad lives), and that since we are divorced, it needed to be a copy of our legal custody agreement. I explained that H. lives with his father about 35% of the time, and that when I had called the school board this summer to ask about zoning, the person with whom I spoke said that this was sufficient to qualify H. for High School X zone residency. The guidance counselor said she could not quantify for me what amount of time would allow H. to continue to attend school, but that they had to have a copy of the custody agreement.
I called the head of zoning for Knox County schools, Mr. Smith*, to clarify. He would not give me an amount of time H. had to live with his father - he didn’t seem to even know the answer to this specific question - but said that if I - who do not live in the zone - am listed as the “primary residential parent,” H. cannot attend the school even if he lives with his father much of the time. He said that H’s father would have to be listed as the “PRP” in order for H. to continue attending the school. I told him it would take some time to get that changed, and he said that was fine, as long as we were working on it.
So H’s father and I began hammering out an entirely new custody agreement, which obviously takes time. It involves three kids, two adults, child support, etc. In the interim, I had my attorney send both the school and Mr. Smith* a letter explaining we were in the process of collaboratively changing the legal agreement to meet the school’s requirement, but that it would not be in H’s best interest to have his schooling disrupted during the several weeks it would take to get this accomplished. My attorney asked that the school contact him with any questions.
Yesterday morning I got a call at my office from the school saying I had until 4pm that day to show them evidence that we have filed legal papers to modify the custody agreement, or H. would be unable to attend school tomorrow. I called H’s dad, who called Mr. Smith*. H’s dad explained we are within days of filing, and questioned why they gave us only 7 working hours to take care of this when they got the letter from my lawyer several weeks ago. If the letter wasn’t sufficient, or if they intended to put a strict time limit on the matter, we should have been notified with more than seven hours’ notice. Mr. Smith* wouldn’t budge, but said if we could show him evidence that the paperwork had been filed with the court by the end of the day, Henry could return to school - maybe the next day.
So H’s dad and I are scrambling to get the agreement finished so we can sign. I called the judge’s clerk to find out the filing requirements (notarized, by 4pm, with both parents’ signatures). I explained I would need a receipt or documentation of some kind that we had filed to show Mr. Smith* I explained why. The clerk told me they do not give ANY sort of paperwork or documentation proving you have filed, and that the plan isn’t stamped “filed” until Judge Brown* signs it -probably in three to four weeks.
I called Mr. Smith* back and explained this. He told me I am flatly mistaken, and insinuated I was trying to pull some sort of fast one to get around zoning requirements. I told him that Ms. Jones* in Judge Brown’s* office had assured me that no such filing documentation existed. He told me I was wrong, she is wrong, and that “Judge Bill Brown is my friend.” He suggested that I have Judge Brown* call him. I explained that not only was that unlikely to happen, but that Judge Brown* is out of town this week,. He told me that this proved I didn’t know what I am talking about, because Judge Brown* is not out of town (he is). I asked him if he would be willing to talk to Ms. Jones* in Judge Brown’s* office. He said she could call him.
So I called Ms. Jones* back in Judge Brown’s* office and explained the situation. I asked her if she would take 5 minutes to call Mr. Smith* and explain that no paperwork such as he was requesting exists. She refused, saying “I don’t give legal advice.” I tried to explain that I was not asking for legal advice, but for her help in conveying a procedural matter to Mr. Smith*. She refused.
So he won’t call her and she won’t call him. He is requesting documentation that apparently does not exist. The school system gave us seven hours to take care of this highly technical legal matter. They heard from my attorney weeks ago; if his letter wasn’t sufficient, why did they give us one working day to fix it instead of letting me know right away?
I called the school principal and explained that it would be highly disruptive to my son, whose father DOES live in the zone, to be denied schooling while we get this straightened out. She basically said tough luck, and that he should not come to school in the morning.
Then, just before 3:00 p.m., my son called, very upset and confused, saying he had been pulled from class and told he was “transferring to High School Y.” He was told he needed to go tell all of his teachers he was “withdrawing.”
Needless to say, I was extremely frustrated. I consider this a highly inappropriate way to approach such a sensitive matter with a student, not to mention the fact that we were told we had until the end of the business day to remedy the legal technicalities.
Thankfully, we have an excellent school board representative in INDYA KINCANNON. I called and e-mailed her in the afternoon and she immediately began researching the issue and trying to get it straightened out for us.
But for today, my son H. is sitting at home, reading, while we try to get this all sorted out.
I am irritated. This sort of impersonal treatment was one of my biggest fears in transferring H to public school this year. Happily, he has been loving the school, his classes and teachers, so this was a big disappointment.
*Name changed. E-mail me if you are a Knox County parent and want the actual players’ names.
You sound so calm. I admire that. I would be screeching at the top of my lungs.
You know - I spent a good chunk of the last couple of minutes trying to figure out when Knoxville named a school “Knox County High School X.” I need more coffee.
This is outrageous. Good luck. Please keep us posted. Teachable moment: H. could read Kafka.
You should post this story on SchoolMatters (http://schoolmatters.ning.com/). You lawyer should file an order that you want to take this matter to mediation and demand that no changes be made in your child’s education until you reach your mediation date.
ack!! Id like the names. I dont want this to happen to me, my son’s father owns a condo in the school district we want him to go to. But we were never married and didnt bother with a costody contract because, well, we never needed one. I’d like to keep it that way.
Welcome to Knox County Public Schools. The transfer staff is impossible to work with. The schools do NOT act in the best interest of the students. They will not protect a child who could be taken out illegally by a non-custodial parent. But to insist a child be thrown out while legal issues are pending is just crap. Just imagine how much worse this is for parents who can not agree on custody issues. I am very sympathetic and encourage you to post on school matters and keep talking to Indya.
Good lord. That’s insane. I hope you get this worked out.
Terrible just terrible.
I was in a similar situation. My daughter was pulled out of one school and transferred to another mid year. In the long run it ended up being a good thing for us for awhile but it was not an easy transition.
A lot of school systems are not about or for kids. I wish you the best.
this is horrible! who benefits from pulling a child out of school? I hope you guys can work this out soon!
It’s ironic that Knoxville schools will pull parents into court when they don’t send their child to school, but they’ll basically furlough another child even though his parents are doing everything in their power to keep him in school. Nuts, huh?
Katie, this should be easy to fix — the court should give you the paperwork you need. Whenever you file something, it is stamped immediately — IMMEDIATELY. Some papers aren’t stamped FILED right away — yours is probably not one. But it WILL be stamped RECEIVED. The court won’t make you a copy of this, but you can have as many copies of a filing stamped as you bring to the courthouse. Bring another copy and have it stamped RECEIVED. It will have an original ink stamp from the clerk’s office, and it sounds like this is exactly what they want: proof you have filed something. Whenever I filed anything with state court, I had several copies stamped — one to bring back to the office for distribution copies, an “original” for the file, one for a “courtesy copy” to judge’s chambers, etc.
P.S. If you already filed without taking extra copies to stamp, you can go to the clerk’s office and get a copy of what you filed. It may take 2 hours and $2 a page (or something more outrageous) . . . , but it should have a stamp on it showing it was received by the court. I never did family law, but I would be absolutely, positively shocked beyond belief if there are papers being shuffled around the courthouse that aren’t stamped upon arrival.
P.S. Something else is going on here, to figure out when phase I of the red tape is over. I have a high school administrator and teacher in the family, and I know that high schools don’t have time or manpower to pull this kind of shit. All may not be going well with H. Or else there’s MAJOR overcrowding at X, but that still doesn’t explain why they targeted H.
Katie, this is outrageous, bordering on the inhumane.
May I link on my own blog to this story? Because I think it is important and my readers love stuff like this (not revelling in your misery, but they get very fired up about stuff, because they are good people.).
You work in the media. Use it, honey. Use it. I would have this story on television so goddamned fast that “Mr. Smith” and his seven heads would be spinning.
I agree with Jenny…there is something else going on here.
That is really wierd? Somebody is working fast and furiously to cover up their mistake…did someone forget to mail you a letter earlier that gave you the deadline? I can’t believe they give a family one day to fix this..very odd. I know that if a child has been a trouble maker and he/she is a transfer student they will remove pack them up and send them to their designated school that fast; but I’ve never seen it because of a zoning issue. I think I would call Roy Mullins who is acting as Super right now…call all the school board for that matter.
My husband is a Registrar in a Guidance Office at a high school in another state. He is not surprised that it happened because there was a national deadline at the end of September. He thinks they might be acting this way because, at least in our state, records and enrollments are being audited and school systems are getting fined for the inability to produce adequate records. He is disappointed that your principal isn’t supportive. His advice is to start at the top and talk to either a local or state representative and to use that as ammunition as you work your way down. He says if the government is not receptive to go to a local newspaper. Either way it will spur the school system to action because they don’t want to look bad. You can email me if you want more advice.
So???? It’s 4:42 and we are dying to know what happened!
My husband also says you should look at the state laws and how they govern student records. Because it sounds like people don’t even know what the law really says. It could be that you already have sufficient documentation, as per the law, for H. to be in school. In this county all you need is a birth certificate proving paternity/maternity and proof or residence. They are not allowed to refuse if these documents are presented.
Poor H.! That really does suck since your ex lives in zone and since you were working out the solution. Unfortunately, the public school H. attends is the school that a LOT of parents in N & S Knox want their child to attend instead of their zone school so I have found them to be the biggest sticklers. I suspect someone might have ‘turned you in’ (this happens a lot as well) and once you are in the ‘radar’ the school cannot be seen as making an ‘exception.’
“”My husband also says you should look at the state laws and how they govern student records. Because it sounds like people don’t even know what the law really says. It could be that you already have sufficient documentation, as per the law, for H. to be in school. In this county all you need is a birth certificate proving paternity/maternity and proof or residence. They are not allowed to refuse if these documents are presented”"
Actually that is incorrect. If the parents are married it’s that simple; if there is only one custodial parent it is that simple. But there are many variables that play into zoning and transfers. If parents are divorced, the parents must provide documentation of custody arrangements, especially in a case like H. who shares his time with both parents. However I’ve never heard of a school being so rushed to remove a child from school unless there was another issue.
I’ve been clicking around, and many school districts have their residency requirements, including those for students who divide their time between two homes, on their websites. These parameters should be public, not top secret. For a school official to refuse to give you the details over the phone is only one outrageous element in this. I am also guessing that none of the actors here is divorced with children! Or you’d have empathy in buckets. Keep us posted!
What a bunch of Bull Sh&%! I’d be SOOOOOOO furious!!!! And poor H, the victim in it all!
yikes
At the end of the day, aren’t you really just manipulating the system yourself? It really does seem that his primary residence is your house. It’s 65/35 overall, but what about school days?
You do not think that the local school in your beloved inner city neighborhood is good enough, so he has a possible out to go to a school across town.
I know you have his best interests at heart, but you don’t see the problem here?
No. I am not manipulating the system. My son’s father, who has legal custody, is a property owner in that school district. He lives there. My child should have a right to attend school where he lives. He lives part of the time with his father, which is appropriate and expected when parents are divorced. Many students have two equally involved parents living in two separate school zones, as my son does. My son’s father pays taxes that should qualify his child to attend school in his neighborhood.
In my case, my ex husband and I have a 50/50 agreement. My ex husband owns two pieces of property in the same town but only actually resides in one (pays taxes on both though!). He had originally resided in a condo where my daughter started at school A. He then bought a house zoned for school B. My daughter continued to attend school A for several years. (Each year we would apply for permission to stay there.)
We got a truly bad teacher one year and when I asked to have my child transferred out of her class they decided that she could no longer stay at the school! It didn’t matter that my exH owned property in that district. We ended up with great teachers for the rest of her elementary years but it was a rough switch to be making around the holidays.
Sometimes the rules are theirs and they don’t make sense.
I hope everything worked out ok for you.
Katie,
I am not saying that there is anything wrong with what you are doing. But you do realize that you are very lucky to have a choice for your child to go to a better (ostensibly) school. I just don’t think your “I’m getting screwed” attitude is justified.
we live in a very small town with two high schools. we live literally a block from one of them. Most of my daughters friends go to the other one. They had absolutely no problem with her transfer as long as there was room and as long as it didn’t appear to be to move around a discipline problem. You live in a big city. this is not an issue here because with one exception, the public high schools are not remarkably different from one another. However, in bigger cities, of which I have lived in several, people pay lots of money for access to certain public schools. Is it really fair for a child who spends more time living in a “less desirable” zone to be allowed to attend a school that other kids are going to because their parents have paid more money for their house, pay more in taxes etc etc? I suspect school districts have a lot of trouble with kids of divorced parents or parents who never married to begin with, trying to cash in on the fact that their child spends a much smaller amount of time in a more desirable neighborhood as far as school selection goes. They have to have a cut off somewhere, so unless it’s exactly fifty fifty, then I can see where they are coming from. A poster above alluded to taking advantage of a condo in another neighborhood that was definately not by any stretch of the imagination a primary residence for her kid. I imagine people do it all the time and its not right. I agree it sounds like they could have handled this better, given adequete warning, etc, but we are only hearing one side of the story here.
You have chosen to live in a “charming’ inner city neighborhood. Part of the price of that is the schools that go along with it. I imagine you paid a lot less for your “charming” old house with homeless folk on the corner than people in suburban McMansions. Part of that is reflected in the schools. sorry. that is the way it is. If you were so concerned about the public school your kid goes to, you would move to an area that has better ones like everyone else does. You are not above the rules simply because you are a semi celebrity in knoxville and on the internet. Plenty of people suck it up and move to a less plush home or even a condo in a better school district for their kids sake. If you would rather live in a charming old neighborhood regardless of what that means for your children, then there are things that go along with it and you should not think the school district will be eager to go along with your plan to get the best of both worlds if your child spends a greater amount of time in the less desirable (from a school standpoint) neighborhood.
Leigh-
You don’t know what the hell you are talking about. I don’t believe I am “above” any rules. You don’t happen to know the rules in Knoxville; I do, and my child qualifies for zoning in both his parents’ neighborhoods. This was a bureaucratic snafu based on a small legal technicality. It wasn’t about someone trying to get around the rules or send her child to a school for which he isn’t zoned. As it happens, my child’s parents pay DOUBLE the taxes in Knoxville because we own two separate houses. His father lives, owns property in, and pays taxes in the zone in which our child - his child - attends school.
-KAG
So Katie, any updates on this? Is H attending the other school now? I’m sorry you have to go through all this crap.
and one could argue your kids have quadruple the income with four parents paying for things.
I am sorry if I assumed anything. However I would imagine that there ARE plenty of people who try to weasel into a better school because of a parent with whom they spend minimal time. I would think they have to set the line somewhere.
Relinquishing custody isn’t a small legal technicality but it IS the right thing to do if it helps your child.However,if it’s only on paper you’d better be super careful because they’ll probably be watching the situation closely to see if they can catch you in a lie. If they prove that your child spends more time with you than your Ex they could force you to pay thousands in tuition to the school district.My friend got caught and it cost her!