13% of all Fayette students from 1,658 households still haven’t brought residency proof to school
The Fayette County Board of Education on Sept. 19 was updated on the residency verification of all students. To date, the school system is working to verify the residency of 2,653 students to ensure they live in Fayette County.
School system Student Services Director Audrey Toney told the school board that as of Sept. 19 staff had verified the residency of all but 2,653 students in 1,658 households.
That number — slightly over 13 percent — is out of a total of 20,058 students currently enrolled in Fayette public schools.
The number of residency verifications, requested several months ago by the school board, continues to increase, Toney said.
Citing the current progress, Toney said there were 4,543 unverified students on Sept. 6.
Asked by board member Dan Colwell how many of the students checked thus far were found not to live in Fayette, Toney said only one or two of that number were withdrawn.
Describing the communications with parents, Toney said the school system is sending emails to specified parents and social workers are making home visits.
Phone calls are also being made by schools, one school at a time beginning with the elementary schools, Toney said, adding that only two elementary schools have not completed the calls.
Toney said she expects to have additional verifications in the coming days and would update the school board at the Oct. 3 work session.
Asked by board member Diane Basham if the school system was going to arrive at a drop-dead date for parents to respond with proof of residency, Superintendent Jody Barrow said, “We will get to that point very shortly.”
Colwell, Basham and board member Leonard Presberg thanked Toney and school system staff for their work in verifying student residency.
At stake in the residency verification is the amount of money the school system will receive this school year from the state based on a student head-count that will occur in the coming weeks.
The current residency verification is the first to be conducted since 2011.
