Neil's News

Catchment Area

4 July 2021

The registration form for Beverly's kindergarten is shocking. There's the usual questions on allergies, race(s), and emergency contact information. But by far the largest section is verifying her eligibility. Specifically, whether she genuinely lives in the school's catchment area. They require:

  • Bank statement with our address.
  • Property tax bill with our address.
  • Authorization for the school district to conduct unscheduled home visits to verify Beverly lives here.
  • Acknowledgment that providing false information is punishable by fines and prison.
  • Acknowledgment that accomplices providing false information are also punishable by fines and prison.
  • Acknowledgment that Beverly will be kicked out if she's found living elsewhere.
  • Acknowledgment that I'd be liable for covering all the district's legal fees should they sue me over this.

Why the obsession with Beverly's address? Well, this school is in a wealthy (aka white and asian) neighbourhood. Accordingly, it's a good school. So the district feels that it is important to keep it like this, and to ensure that the black and hispanic students from adjacent districts stay in their own schools.

In the US, educational segregation begins in kindergarten.

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Legal yada yada: My views do not necessarily represent those of my employer or my goldfish.