Pulling back the curtain on serial cheating at Dallas magnet schools

By KERI MITCHELL

o one likes a cheater.

But as it turns out, Dallas ISD has tolerated them for years.

Families of students who cheat their way into the district’s top magnet schools have been excused and even encouraged in some cases.

Over the past few months, magnets have been under the magnifying glass as Advocate reporting and trustee questions have pressed administrators for numbers on who is getting in and how. At issue is whether Parkies and suburbanites are taking spots that should be given to students who live within DISD boundaries.

When administrators took a closer look, a pattern emerged of families applying with a DISD address and moving within the school year, coupled with a “lax” approach to the board policy that requires DISD to check magnet students’ residency from year to year. One trustee spoke anecdotally about a welcome session where new parents were told, “If you move, we don’t want to know about it.”

Principled principals make a point to check a student’s address when they see a utility bill with scant activity or notice a similar suspicion. Notarized affidavits of residency, however, which are designed for homeless students who find shelter with extended family or friends, were considered legal documents and couldn’t be questioned.

A discovery that affidavits were be- ing abused at popular and overcrowded neighborhood schools, such as Woodrow Wilson High School, led us to ask the district for numbers and copies of affidavits at several DISD schools, including magnets. The district couldn’t provide them, however — at least without us forking over more than $23,000 — because DISD doesn’t track affidavits or keep them on file from year to year.

All of this adds up to gaping loopholes that savvy parents have been able to worm their way through. Most of the incoming students are rich and white, DISD admin- of them attend seven magnet schools where qualified in-district students are waiting to be admitted: Townview Science and Engineering, Townview Talented and Gifted, Harry Stone Montessori, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, Dealey Montessori and Travis Talented and Gifted istrators say, and infuse diversity into a district that is overwhelmingly poor and minority. Some trustees welcome the outsiders in the name of enrollment and financial growth; others want to ensure that Dallas students have first dibs. total DISD students are on waitlists to attend these seven magnets out-of-district students at these popular magnets are the children of DISD employees

We want to know what you think. Read the full series at oakcliff.advocatemag.com/magnetcheaters, then give us — and DISD — your feedback.

*These numbers may be inaccurately low, as Dallas ISD admits it has been “lax” in checking magnet students’ residency from year to year, as board policy requires, and anecdotal evidence points to some families using falsified affidavits or uninhabited apartments as proof of residency.

Worship

By BRENT MCDOUGAL