By Holly Crocco
The Brewster Central School District is working to reduce the number of students enrolled who may not meet residency requirements. With about a third of the district’s families – about 1,000 students – renting or leasing their homes, they have to provide documentation each year verifying they still live at the address on record with the district.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michelle Gosh explained during the Oct. 8 Brewster School Board meeting that, as of the beginning of the month, there were 526 students (about 18 percent of the district’s population) enrolled from homes whose leases expire(d) between January and December of this year. The district needs to verify whether those leases were renewed and the families still live at those locations.
In addition, there were 17 students enrolled from homes whose leases expired in June 2023, and 31 students enrolled from homes whose leases expired between July and December 2023.
“This is a continual, ongoing effort that we are going to continue to dedicate resources to, and although we will be diligent and will continue to follow the letter of the law and do all that we need to do to protect resources, these numbers will never go down to zero,” said Gosh.
The superintendent explained that the district is pursuing lease verification in chronological order, starting with the oldest and moving to the most recent.
Gosh explained that the number “bloomed” to 526 this year because the district was without a residency officer from May to August.
“This is a very specialized skillset,” she said. “It took us time after an unexpected resignation to be able to get someone in place, but we are very happy with the individual we have and you can see just from starting at the end of August to where we are now the dent that has been.”
As a leader in the region in residency efforts, Gosh said one thing the district continues to learn is how to best allocate resources. For example, the most effective way to verify residency after failed attempts to contact families or landlords for documentation through email or phone, is through home visits.
“This is time intensive, but it really allows for us to ensure individuals live there,” she said.
The district’s residency officer dedicates two days a week to making home visits.
Gosh said the district has had situations where students are dis-enrolled because their families cannot prove residency, and are re-enrolled a few weeks later after proper documentation is provided.
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