Policy subcommittee considers new residency rules
By Doug Grindle Community Reporter

Marlborough - A proposal to tighten residency requirements raised concern from community members and the Marlborough School Committee's policy subcommittee at the subcommittee's July 9 meeting.

If approved, the policy would come into effect in time for the new school year and would clarify who is a resident of Marlborough, laying down stricter requirements for parents and guardians to prove their residency when they register their children. A new full-time administrator, based at the district education center, would handle registrations for the entire district, which is currently done piecemeal at schools.

To prove residency, parents and guardians would be required to show more than a single document, such as a driver's license or utility bill as proof of current residence, as is now required. Three separate documents would be needed in three different categories, including a deed or lease agreement, a utility bill and a driver's license or pay stub.

Committee members asked whether the tightened rules would work any better than the present ones.

"I'm not so sure how looking at a deed or mortgage

payment or gas bill proves you live in Marlborough," committee member Michelle Bodin-Hettinger said.

Superintendent Barbara McGann, who would be in charge of implementing the changes, said administrators would use their judgment to decide if a convincing case had been made.

"Is it possible to falsify all these documents? Sure," she said.

But she added the new rules would be an improvement that would help catch people illegally using the system.

"This is not something new," she said. "This is a procedure used in many communities in the commonwealth."

The committee also heard from members of the public.

Marlborough resident Ilton Lisboa told the committee he had moved to the city from Brazil 20 years ago and his children had attended Marlborough schools. He was concerned that the proposal is meant to keep immigrant children out of the schools.

"Immigrants pay taxes like everyone else," he said.

McGann told reporters the proposal was not meant to stop immigrants from attending school.

"It has nothing to do with that," she said. "The issue is residency, plain and simple."

Bodin-Hettinger said the School Committee left immigration issues entirely up to the federal government. It is against the law for a school district to inquire about a student's immigration status.

"This is not an issue of whether the parents of the children are in the country legally or illegally," Bodin- Hettinger said. "That is out of our hands."

Frank Kavanaugh, the president of the Brazilian-American Association, told the committee he was concerned that immigrants would find it more difficult to produce the required documents.

McGann disagreed that the document requirements place too great a burden on parents.

"I don't think it makes it too difficult for people who are residents," she said. "It might be more difficult for people who are not."

Committee members also raised concerns over how best to implement the policy, and whether the policy would be eff ective enough.

School Committee Vice Chair Kathleen Robey noted that any current students who are not residents are unlikely to be caught, because under the new policy no existing student is required to re-register.

"That's probably 99.9 percent of the students," she said, referring to those who are not aff ected by the policy.

McGann replied that estimate was too pessimistic.

"Re-registering is a much more common occurrence than we would think," she said.

McGann said that 500 to 1,000 re-registrations happen every year. A student must re-register after having missed seven consecutive days of school.

The subcommittee recessed after directing McGann to draw up an amended document that laid out the definitions and responsibilities of residents and non-residents alike, to be considered at the next subcommittee meeting Monday July 16.