School catchment area fraud

[Cerberus1]

Interesting article on th ABC about catchment area fraud for Brisbane State High school and the steps some parents take - buying investment properties in the area and pretending to live there.

 

Brisbane State High School has become so pressured by rising enrolments it is employing an investigator to weed out families who are rorting the catchment system so their children can attend the school.

The high school has just called on the Queensland Government to introduce a cap on enrolments to tackle overcrowding.

School council chairman David Gillespie said rorting resulted in an extra 200 students attending per year.

"The big problem is what I would call catchment fraud," Mr Gillespie said.

"It's a combination of people lying about living in the catchment, which is part of it, and probably an even bigger problem is people who do live in the catchment on the day they enrol and they didn't live there the day before.

"They have no intention of staying there any longer than they have to."

West End resident Lainie Diacos said she had enrolled her daughter at the school.

She said she had heard horror stories about the lengths some parents went to so their children could attend Brisbane State High, including buying investment properties in the area and pretending to live there.

"The kids go there [to the properties] after school and turn taps on and run electricity so they look like they're living there," she said.

Ms Diacos said the school already went to extensive lengths to prove prospective students lived in the catchment.

"The hoops that we had to go through to prove that we were legitimate catchment dwellers was tough," she said.

Mr Gillespie admitted the problem was serious enough to prompt the school to hire an investigator and liaise with police to stamp out fraudsters.

He said it was not an ideal situation.

"The end of that process is ripping a kid out of that school and no matter what you think of their parents and what they did to get them there, this is still a kid we're talking about," he said.

He called on the State Government to cap enrolments.

"Make sure that cap is generous, make sure it allows for everyone we know who lives in the catchment — and a lot more — but when that cap is hit you can't enrol in the catchment anymore."

Full article at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-30/brisbane-state-high-catchment-fraud-rort-locals/9817190

[Loopylu]

As a parent of three high school aged kids (2 in Year 12, 1 in Year 8) who all attend an ordinary state high school in Brisbane, I cannot understand the overriding obsession and fears of it seems the majoirty of Brisbane parents about what school their child attends. A lot of it seems to be about keeping up with the Jones's and being able to brag about how great the school is along side the size of their house and number of cars, overseas holidays.  Others seem to be overly protective of their often spoiled brats.  What is wrong with sending your kids to the local school and letting them mix with people from all walks of life?

[Guest]

A few state high schools in Adelaide now have a policy of must have lived in the zone at least X amount of years before enrolling in the first year of high school with them. So if a family move into the zone in the year before their kid starts high school, it won't get them a place. Nor will transferring in after the initial high school intake Y8 (kids start HS here in Y8). Parents get directed to other schools. 

It was designed to put pay to the same sort of thing happening.