The Riverhead School District was ordered by the State Attorney General and the State Education Department in 2014 to make changes to its student registration requirements to comply with federal law and regulations, district officials told the public last night.
The state conducted a “compliance review,” auditing the district’s “procedures, policies and forms,” director of pupil personnel services Eileen Manitta said last night. The state agencies audited all school districts in the state, she said.
“After they reviewed all our forms and policies,” she said,
The district was “mandated to comply with federal and state regulations.”
Manitta provided a summary of what the district was “compelled to do” as of Jan. 31, 2015, she said. Among the directives were: making sure all application materials were posted on the district website, expediting enrollment of students while residency determinations are being made, adopting new types of accepted documentation to establish physical presence within the district, and alternate means of certifying age. The district was prohibited from requiring a social security card or any proof of immigration status, Manitta said.
The state audit and its outcome had not been previously publicly discussed at a board of education meeting, according to board meeting minutes posted on the district website.
District officials made last night’s presentation on the district’s registration process in response to previous questions from the community and complaints that the district is lax about enforcing residency requirements. Those concerns have been repeatedly voiced during public meetings on the district’s multimillion dollar facilities expansion and upgrade proposal, as residents question whether district enrollment policies and practices comply with the law and best practices.
Addressing questions about the district’s procedures for handling reports about potential non-resident students, Manitta said the district gets “about one to two” of such complaints per month, “about 20 per year,” she said, though her office has not been formally tracking it.
Two staff members go out to investigate complaints, she said. They report their findings to her.
“We try to contact the parent. They come in to prove residency or withdraw. If there’s no response I send a letter out instructing them to come in with proof of residency or withdraw the child,” Manitta said. Then a notice is sent informing the responsible adult that the child is not entitled to attend school. There is a right to appeal, she said.
Wading River resident Dan Pace accused the district of misleading the public. He questioned the timeline of the district’s compliance with the attorney general’s directive. He said the enrollment requirements were not updated until February 2018.
“I work in a regulated industry and I am very familiar wit government audits,” Pace said. “There’s an engagement letter. Then the entity receives written audit findings. Then the entity responds, indicating if it agrees, what changes it will make and by what date,” Pace said. “There’s a letter dated July 30, 2014 and nothing is addressed until February 2018? There is no way you could be audited and not address the audit findings for four years,” he said. “Where are the written findings? Where are your written responses?”
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Christine Tona replied that the February 2018 date was when the materials were posted on the district’s website. She said when she joined the district in 2016, it had already complied with the state’s directives.
Pace said he had reviewed the attorney general’s July 30, 2014 letter to the district “with a fine tooth comb” and he disputed any contention that the district cannot require a copy of a town rental permit for any student living in rental housing.
“Nowhere does [the attorney general’s letter] prohibit a notarized rental affidavit or a rental permit from the town when the person is renting,” Pace said.
“I would like to point out a rental permit shows that a home has been inspected and is safe to live in,” Pace said. By not requiring a rental permit, the district is contributing to the problem of illegal housing in Riverhead.
By requiring a rental permit, “you are ensuring the home that has been inspected by the town and determined safe to live in,” Pace told the board. “Wouldn’t that benefit the children of this district? Shouldn’t the safety of our children be the district’s number one priority?”
Other parents complained to the board again about overcrowding.
Sharon Park of Aquebogue, who has a fifth grader at Pulaski Street School, which is at 115% of its rated capacity, said conditions are so overcrowded there, “it’s scary.”
The school has 30 children in a classroom, she said.
“You can have 240 kids at recess and 240 kids at lunch at the same time,” Park said. How can the school possibly monitor a situation like that, she asked.
They have 20 minutes for lunch, Park said. It’s so crowded the kids can’t even get served lunch in 20 minutes, she said.
Park said her child reports that “kids are falling down in stairwells because there’s so many kids.”
All of the discussion about facilities improvement is “down the line — and that’s great,” Park said. “But what are we doing about right now?”
Superintendent Dr. Aurelia Henriquez said the district is hoping to add faculty at Pulaski, Riley, the middle school and high school through a retirement incentive program that will allow the district to hire more teachers than the number retiring because the new faculty will be paid entry-level salaries.
“Please go look at what 30 kids in classroom looks like,” Park implored the board. “Go look at 240 kids in a cafeteria. You need to physically see them.”
Jason Ranghelli of Riverhead again complained to the board about overcrowded classrooms at Riley Avenue Elementary School, where he said there are 27 children in a class.
Ranghelli said the elementary schools in the district are not treated equally, as other schools’ classrooms are not as crowded.
“I don’t believe there’s no money. We can always find money for an excellent education,” Ranghelli said.
He said his utmost concern is for his three children at Riley. The primary grades are the most important, he said.
“Is this year lost? Can we do anything? And what are we doing next year?”
Pace returned to the podium to read a statement “putting the board on notice,” he said.
The Riverhead Town Association of Concerned Citizens, of which Pace is a founding member, “has been receiving very significant support” from the community.
“People have been thanking us for getting these issues out in the open and trying to make our district and town a better place to live an educate our children,” Pace said.
“I want to put this board on notice that we are not going anywhere. We will not accept the current state of this district and we will do whatever is necessary to protect our children’s right to the quality education they deserve,” Pace said.
“This district has failed every child that attends with its inadequate policies. By allowing more children in the district than the district has resources for is inexcusable,” he said. “This district is at a point where it cannot provide a quality education to anyone. If this district does not begin to rectify this problem immediately we are prepared to take any steps within the law to swiftly resolve these issues,” Pace said.
“This board needs to put the citizens of this community and, more important, the students of the district first,” he said.
Pace said the district must bring its enrollment requirements in line with every other district” and should have an attendance officer who “vigorously follows up on these requirements.”
The district must require an affidavit of residency and, “for the safety of the children living in this district require a rental permit from the town,” he said.
“If the district’s attorneys are against this then maybe it is time for a second opinion,” Pace said. “Nobody in this town wants a legal battle to get this rectified but I can personally guarantee you if this is not taken care of immediately there will be one.”
Pace demanded “a plan of action put forth” at the next board meeting “to get the state of this district cleaned up so our children can go back to getting the quality education they deserve.”
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