We'll let illegal aliens who have no right to be in this country enroll in our public schools -- but woe to the American citizen kid whose parents try to sneak him/her across district lines in search of a better education!

SAD to say, but suburban schools also have a problem with illegal immigrants, only theirs are pint-size and most are American citizens.

Take Greenwich. Students from bordering communities like Port Chester, N.Y., and Stamford, Conn., keep striving to land seats in Greenwich classrooms. Who can blame them? Just as Mexicans sneak into California because thatÂ’s where the better jobs are, students sneak into Greenwich because thatÂ’s where the better schools are.

Greenwich, one of AmericaÂ’s wealthiest towns, has not yet surrounded itself with a chain-link fence and National Guard troops. But it has its own version of a border patrol. A private eye, the kind who might be expected to snoop around motels, has been hired to check out tips of juvenile border crossings. Tattletale parents will report that theyÂ’ve spied a student crossing the Mill Street bridge from Port Chester or spotted another being dropped off by a car with New York license plates. The gumshoe, camera in hand, might shadow the third grader to his home.

The school district would not identify its Sam Spade, except to say heÂ’s a former Greenwich police officer and that he is paid $15,000 a year. He also does the shoe-leather sleuthing of confirming whether students live where their leases and utility bills say they do. In the 2004-5 school year, Greenwich investigated 62 cases and found 20 intruders. Dr. John Curtin, assistant superintendent, told of one student whose address was a golf course and who, upon inquiry, turned out to be the child of a maintenance worker legitimately housed on the greens.

Most suspicious cases donÂ’t arise from border crossings, but from the turmoil of 21st-century life. Parents divorce, executives get posted overseas. ThatÂ’s one reason why Greenwich is thinking of going high-tech with software, already used by West Hartford, Conn., schools, that crosschecks people who file change-of-address forms with the post office against the districtÂ’s database.

Why does Greenwich work so hard at stopping illegals? Put simply, state and local laws require students to attend schools where they live. Pelham, N.Y., bordered by the Bronx and Mount Vernon, takes similar steps, budgeting $50,000 to track down alien students. In the past year, according to Dr. Charles Wilson, the superintendent, it expelled half the 60 students it investigated.

I guess some illegal aliens are just a little bit more equal than others -- and the inferior ones have American citizenship. Because after all, Greenwich and its ilk don't have to worry much about the OTHER illegal aliens. Those are paid for by the taxpayers of the less affluent community who would desperately like their children to have the same sort of facilities and education Greenwich students get.

Posted by: Greg at 05:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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