Canadian child attending U.S. elementary school?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

This is our little concern. We don't want to speed up the marriage just so we can live together first. I mean if we have to, then we'll do it. However, we'd like our wedding to be on our own terms. You've been very helpful. Figured I'd just let you into our thought process.

The main thing is that we've spent the past year and a half apart from each other. We'd like to get the ball rolling.

Another detail is that she is currently attending Trent University in Peterborough, ON. She is going to research if it's even possible for her to travel daily across the border to attend classes.

Yes we have a very complicated system going. LOL!

The K-1 takes 6-9 months, so waiting will be involved. Does getting married in the US in 6 months sound good to you? When do you want to get married?

WIth the K-1 she cannot leave the US for a few months. When are her classes over?

[R and F 34]

I found this online just now:

U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Department of Education

Civil Rights Division

Office for Civil Rights Office of the General Counsel

May 6, 2011

Dear Colleague:

Under Federal law, State and local educational agencies (hereinafter districts) are required to provide all children with equal access to public education at the elementary and secondary level. Recently, we have become aware of student enrollment practices that may chill or discourage the participation, or lead to the exclusion, of students based on their or their parents or guardians actual or perceived citizenship or immigration status. These practices contravene Federal law. Both the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Education (Departments) write to remind you of the Federal obligation to provide equal educational opportunities to all children residing within your district and to offer our assistance in ensuring that you comply with the law. The Departments enforce numerous statutes that prohibit discrimination, including Titles IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title IV prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, among other factors, by public elementary and secondary schools. 42U.S.C. § 2000c-6. Title VI prohibits discrimination by recipients of Federal financial assistance on the basis of race, color, or national origin. 42 U.S.C. § 2000d. Title VI regulations ,more over, prohibit districts from unjustifiably utilizing criteria or methods of administration that have the effect of subjecting individuals to discrimination because of their race, color, or national origin, or have the effect of defeating or substantially impairing accomplishment of the objectives of a program for individuals of a particular race, color, or national origin.

See

28C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(2) and 34 C.F.R. § 100.3(b)(2).Additionally, the United States Supreme Court held in the case of

Plyler v. Doe

, 457 U.S.202 (1982), that a State may not deny access to a basic public education to any child residing in the State, whether present in the United States legally or otherwise. Denying innocent children access to a public education, the Court explained, imposes a lifetime hardship on a discrete class of children not accountable for their disabling status. . . . By denying these children a basic education, we deny them the ability to live within the structure of our civic institutions, and foreclose any realistic possibility that they will contribute in even the smallest way to the progress of our Nation.

Plyler

, 457 U.S. at 223. As

Plyler

makes clear, the undocumented or non-citizen status of a student (or his or her parent or guardian) is irrelevant to that students entitlement to an elementary and secondary public education. To comply with these Federal civil rights laws, as well as the mandates of the Supreme Court, you must ensure that you do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin, and that students are not barred from enrolling in public schools at the elementary and secondary level on the basis of their own citizenship or immigration status or that of their parents

Page 2-

Dear Colleague Letter or guardians.

Moreover, districts may not request information with the purpose or result of denying access to public schools on the basis of race, color, or national origin. To assist you in meeting these obligations, we provide below some examples of permissible enrollment practices, as well as examples of the types of information that may not be used as a basis for denying a student entrance to school. In order to ensure that its educational services are enjoyed only by residents of the district, a district may require students or their parents to provide proof of residency within the district.

See

,

e.g.

,

Martinez v. Bynum

, 461 U.S. 321, 328 (1983).

1

For example, a district may require copies of phone and water bills or lease agreements to establish residency. While a district may restrict attendance to district residents, inquiring into students citizenship or immigration status, or that of their parents or guardians would not be relevant to establish in residency within the district. A school district may require a birth certificate to ensure that a student falls within district-mandated minimum and maximum age requirements; however, a district may not bar a student from enrolling in its schools based on a foreign birth certificate. Moreover, we recognize that districts have Federal obligations, and in some instances State obligations, to report certain data such as the race and ethnicity of their student population. While the Department of Education requires districts to collect and report such information, districts cannot use the acquired data to discriminate against students; nor should a parents or guardians refusal to respond to a request for this data lead to a denial of his or her childs enrollment. Similarly, we are aware that many districts request a students social security number at enrollment for use as a student identification number. A district may not deny enrollment to a student if he or she (or his or her parent or guardian) chooses not to provide a social security number.

See

5 U.S.C. §552a (note).

2

If a district chooses to request a social security number, It shall inform the individual that the disclosure is voluntary, provide the statutory or other basisupon which it is seeking the number, and explain what uses will be made of it.

Id.

In all instances of information collection and review, it is essential that any request be uniformly applied to all students and not applied in a selective manner to specific groups of students. As the Supreme Court noted in the landmark case of

Brown v. Board of Education

, 347U.S. 483 (1954), it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he[or she] is denied the opportunity of an education.

Id.

at 493. Both Departments are committed to vigorously enforcing the Federal civil rights laws outlined above and to providing any technical assistance that may be helpful to you so that all students are afforded equal educational opportunities. As immediate steps, you first may wish to review the documents your district requires for school enrollment to ensure that the requested documents do not have a chilling effect on a students enrollment in school. Second, in the process of assessing your compliance with the law, you might review State and district level enrollment data. Precipitous drops in the

1

Homeless children and youth often do not have the documents ordinarily required for school enrollment such as proof of residency or birth certificates. A school selected for a homeless child must immediately enroll the homeless child, even if the child or the childs parent or guardian is unable to produce the records normally required for enrollment.

See

42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(3)©(i).

2

Federal law provides for certain limited exceptions to this requirement.

See

Pub. L. 93-579 § 7(a)(2)(B).

Page 3-

Dear Colleague

Letter enrollment of any group of students in a district or school may signal that there are barriers to their attendance that you should further investigate. Please contact us if you have any questions or if we can provide you with assistance in ensuring that your programs comply with Federal law. You may contact the Department of Justice , Civil Rights Division, Educational Opportunities Section, at (877) 292-3804 oreducation@usdoj.gov,or the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at (800) 421-3481 or ocr@ed.gov.You may also visit http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/OCR/contact us.cfm for the OCR enforcement office that serves your area. For general information about equal access to public education, please visit our websites at http://www.justice.gov/crt/edo and http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html. We look forward to working with you. Thank you for your attention to this matter and for taking the necessary steps to ensure that no child is denied a public education.

Sincerely,

Russlynn Ali Charles P. Rose Thomas E. Perez Assistant Secretary General Counsel Assistant Attorney General Office for Civil Rights U.S. Department of Education Civil Rights Division U.S. Department of Education U. S. Department of Justice

[shashonie 6]

Thank you for posting this! As a teacher, I as about to respond that we can't discriminate or take access away from students/ children to go to public school, no matter their status. So, if your fiancee came to visit for a few months, should could enroll her child as to not disrupt his education if she would like to We have many children of illegal immigrants in the States who benefit from this and even homeless children who have every right to an education and cannot be restricted based on their address.

[Jawaree 718]

Yes the child can go to school...u pay tax ...u R gonna make them legal

every school in NY is filled with kids undocumented & clueless about

their immigration future, the child should be added to the lease and then

registered in your school district, both U and the mother go in with child

BC, lease/mtge docs,any records from past schools, and school really ought

not to be delving into such a young child status...never heard of that. The

govt don't want a generation of dunce being raised because those kids R going

no where.....good luck bro

[Ozz777 23]

I was going to say, my kids went to school with plenty of kids whose parents were illegal aliens. Interesting to read the federal law on the matter. Thanks for posting that.

[Wexton 0]

Some very insightful information! Thank you everyone! We'll keep looking around for information and make sure we do this the right way.

[TBoneTX 46,122]

Thread from 2013 is now closed to further comment.