Methuen cracks down on out-of-town students

It's a new school year in Methuen, and there's a new school administration looking to tackle an old problem.

City and school leaders are vowing to crack down like never before on students who do not live in Methuen, but pretend they do so they can attend the city's public schools.

``The bottom line is this," Mayor William Manzi III said last week. ``The taxpayers of Methuen ought not be funding the education of children that come from other communities, no matter what that community is."

According to Manzi, the city spends an average of about $7,400 a year to educate each of its 7,200 students.

No one is sure of the exact number, but at least some of those students do not belong in Methuen schools. Some hail from Lawrence, others from New Hampshire. With the help of parents, friends, and relatives, they use false addresses to enroll in Methuen schools, which are perceived to offer a better, safer education than the public schools in some surrounding communities.

For years, school officials have heard anecdotal evidence of illegal students. Much of it came from teachers and parents, who were outraged that Methuen taxpayers were footing the bill for educating out-of-towners. At times, even some illegal students spoke of their status.

The issue has waxed and waned over the years as a public controversy. For instance, in 2002, a Methuen High School senior was told to finish high school in Lawrence after his family moved to that city.

State law requires that public school students live in the community in which they attend schools. Some school districts have adopted a school choice policy, which allows students to choose their school from a variety of participating districts. Methuen rejected that option several years ago.

Methuen School Committee member Kenneth A. Henrick said the city made that choice because its schools were already having a problem with illegal students. ``It's gotten to be a joke," he said.

Henrick and others said that some parents pretend that their children live with relatives or friends in Methuen, others simply pay for a post office box with a Methuen address and try to use that address as proof of residency.

The problem presented by illegal students was highlighted by the arrival of a new superintendent, Jeanne Whitten. One of her first tasks was to hire more first- and third-grade teachers.

Manzi said the district had more students enrolled than expected and needed to hire the teachers to bring classroom size down from 30 to 23.

``We had to add staff to cut the numbers," he said, ``and we are hearing that some of the overcrowding stems from illegally enrolled students."