Fighting for school: Mom of three says her kids were kicked out of school despite living in the district
A mom is fighting to keep her three kids in school after she claimed the Chartiers Valley School District kicked them out with just three days' notice.
All school-aged children in Pennsylvania have a right to a public education in the school district in which they live, but in this situation, the mother and the school district disagree as to where the children live.
It's been about a week straight of no school for siblings Ameena, Donte, and Taylon and while they're excited about all the video games they've been able to play, their mom feels helpless.
It all started a couple of months ago when Sheena Lamb, who lives in the Chartiers Valley School District, or so she thought.
"They did the same thing, except this time, they let me show a lease, show my bills, they sent the police to my house to verify so the kids were only out a couple of days and they were able to go back," she said.
Then her children came home with a letter early last week saying Chartiers Valley planned to withdraw the kids in three days' time. It said the second, fourth, and ninth-graders do not reside at the apartment along Carothers Avenue, so they should instead get enrolled in the school district where they live.
"How is that possible, being the fact she lives here, in this school district?" Asked Donte Johnson, the children's father. "They're on her lease, it doesn't make sense, it's like you're trying to bully us."
Johnson said that he is technically homeless but he's helping their mother four nights a week when she works the overnight shift at a local warehouse.
"Our children have to be watched because one of them has epilepsy and the other is allergic to over 10 different things," said Johnson. "So they have to have parental supervision."
"He watches them while I work, picks them up at about 7:30, and then he'll drop them off in the morning," said Lamb. "I still get them ready, put them on the bus, they still get off the bus every day and come home."
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of Education sent us the Pennsylvania code:
"A child's district of residence is that in which the parents or the guardian resides. When the parents reside in different school districts due to separation, divorce or other reason, the child may attend school in the district of residence of the parent with whom the child lives for a majority of the time, unless a court order or court approved custody agreement specifies otherwise."
Thanks to a new law, a school district cannot disenroll a child until the parents or guardians at least get a chance to appeal or get a hearing.
Lamb said she never got that chance.
We reached out to Superintendent Dan Castagna who said, "Today, I spoke directly with the office of enrollment compliance at the Pennsylvania Department of Education who confirmed that the district made the correct enrollment decision. My goal is to resolve this matter with the best interest of the students in mind. I am confident we can work this out together."
The ninth-grader, Ameena, hopes everyone can work it out.
"I just feel like they're making me choose between my parents because when I go see my dad, it's a problem and they don't believe I live with my mom, so I just feel like they're making me choose my parents and I don't like doing that," she said.
The parents and the district will now be sitting down together to work this out. Given the father's housing situation, not having a lease, there is no other official district for the students to transfer to.
