Washington, DC (WUSA9) — A group of families from Duke Ellington School of the Arts say the Office of the State Superintendent of Education wrongfully accused them of enrollment fraud and now they’re taking the city to court.
An audit by OSSE claimed 164 students, or about 1/3 of the school’s population, were not D.C. residents and were not paying tuition. Md. and Va. students are allowed to attend the elite arts academy but must pay yearly tuition.
Yamilka Ramos said she is caught up in the controversy even though she lives in the District. WUSA9 Delia Gonçalves interviewed the D.C. Government employee and her daughter in their Northeast home in the Eckington neighborhood.
Elisha Fonseca is a freshman studying theatre. “It takes a long time to get in and when you get in its like ‘yay!’" she said, “If I’m putting in all this work just to get kicked out, not by the school, but OSSE…it’s kind of frustrating.”
“I am a D.C. resident,” said her mother Yamilka Ramos, “I’m not going to let someone deem me guilty when I’m not guilty.”
But the Office of the State Superintendent of Education claims Ramos is cheating the system and submitted fake residency papers.
She said investigators denied a date correction made to her lease and initialed by her realtor and a water bill that had a misspelling in her first name.
“I’ve been paying the bill that way,” she explained, “and I called to get it corrected. So that’s out of my hands. I don’t know what they want me to do. You’re gonna (sic) put my daughter out on the street because someone made a data entry error? It’s very frustrating.”
Attorneys representing the families claim OSSE investigators never told them about Wednesday’s deadline to appeal and dispute the claims; instead fast forwarding their cases to the office of the Attorney General.
“How can you finalize an investigation without reaching out to me and speaking to me?” said Ramos, “They’re attacking my integrity and character and they did not do a thorough investigation and they need to be held accountable.”
“We have to fight we have to say something about it because it’s not ok,” said her daughter Elisha.
OSSE would not comment on pending litigation but a spokesperson from the Attorney General's office told WUSA9 all cases referred to their office have now been put on hold while OSSE goes back and sends letters to famlies.
The AG is also reviewing more than 100 enrollment fraud cases from other schools within the DC Public School system. On average, the office reviews less than 50 cases of enrollment fraud in years prior. They have added more staff to help with the additional work load.
