Issues
School fraud arrests diverted Crackdown: Grandmother, mother were charged with 'false swearing' on residency forms for three children.
BYLINE: BRIDGET GUTIERREZ Staff
DATE: November 23, 2006
PUBLICATION: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA)
EDITION: Main; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SECTION: Fayette PAGE: JM1
The first Fayette County arrests for residency fraud -- highly promoted by local law and education officials -- will not result in any convictions. District Attorney Scott Ballard said last week that the first two cases he took on had been settled by "pre-trial diversion" -- meaning the Clayton County grandmother and mother arrested will not be prosecuted. Ballard blamed a "technicality" for his decision not to take the cases to the grand jury next month or demand restitution for the time the three children may have attended school here illegally. But Ballard said he was happy with the outcome in which the women agreed not to re-enroll the students in Fayette schools, unless they lived here. "This just wasn't a very aggravated situation to me because the family had actually lived in Fayette County for some time," he said. This past summer, education and law enforcement officials held a press conference announcing a unified effort to crack down on nonresidents sneaking their children into Fayette schools. Three months later, they stood before TV cameras to tout the arrests of Denise and Michelle Slay -- accusing the women of "false swearing" to a Fayetteville address on student enrollment forms. If convicted of the felony, the Slays could have been fined as much as $1,000 each or been sent to prison for five years. They did not respond to a phone call for comment. Sam Sweat, the school system's assistant superintendent for operations, admitted he was disappointed in the outcome of the first cases. But he's hopeful about others being pursued. Sweat said the message is getting out that residency violators are not being tolerated. During the past two months, he said, 13 students voluntarily withdrew from school as investigators began checking into suspicious addresses. "Even with the Slays, we sent the right message," Sweat said, "because they're no longer in Fayette County schools."
BYLINE: BRIDGET GUTIERREZ Staff
DATE: November 23, 2006
PUBLICATION: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA)
EDITION: Main; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SECTION: Fayette PAGE: JM1
The first Fayette County arrests for residency fraud -- highly promoted by local law and education officials -- will not result in any convictions. District Attorney Scott Ballard said last week that the first two cases he took on had been settled by "pre-trial diversion" -- meaning the Clayton County grandmother and mother arrested will not be prosecuted. Ballard blamed a "technicality" for his decision not to take the cases to the grand jury next month or demand restitution for the time the three children may have attended school here illegally. But Ballard said he was happy with the outcome in which the women agreed not to re-enroll the students in Fayette schools, unless they lived here. "This just wasn't a very aggravated situation to me because the family had actually lived in Fayette County for some time," he said. This past summer, education and law enforcement officials held a press conference announcing a unified effort to crack down on nonresidents sneaking their children into Fayette schools. Three months later, they stood before TV cameras to tout the arrests of Denise and Michelle Slay -- accusing the women of "false swearing" to a Fayetteville address on student enrollment forms. If convicted of the felony, the Slays could have been fined as much as $1,000 each or been sent to prison for five years. They did not respond to a phone call for comment. Sam Sweat, the school system's assistant superintendent for operations, admitted he was disappointed in the outcome of the first cases. But he's hopeful about others being pursued. Sweat said the message is getting out that residency violators are not being tolerated. During the past two months, he said, 13 students voluntarily withdrew from school as investigators began checking into suspicious addresses. "Even with the Slays, we sent the right message," Sweat said, "because they're no longer in Fayette County schools."
