Pennsylvania school code
Section 1316, Pennsylvania Public School Code: “Permitting Attendance of Non-resident Pupils — The board of school directors of any school district may permit any non-resident pupils to attend the public schools in its district upon such terms as it may determine, subject to the provisions of this act.”
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Updated 1 hour ago
A former Gateway mother will not appeal a decision by school officials banning her daughter from attending classes in the district this week.
“We've moved on at this point,” Katy Biddle said of she and her first-grade daughter, Kamdyn. “I don't want her to go to a school that doesn't want her. They don't care about her.”
Kamdyn, 6, was not allowed to remain a student at Gateway's Cleveland Steward Elementary after she moved to Murrysville with her mother following her father's death from brain cancer in September.
Biddle said she told the school's principal in October that she was moving in with family in Murrysville for help caring for her infant twins, and he granted permission for Kamdyn to finish the 2016-17 school year. The girl stayed in school from then until the family was notified by the district superintendent in January that as a non-resident, her daughter had to leave. Her last day at Steward was Tuesday.
The girl started classes Friday at Sloan Elementary in Murrysville, where her mother bought a house.
Gateway Solicitor Bruce Dice is holding steadfast with the superintendent's decision, later upheld by the school board, to oust the child. Dice said he advised the board that state law did not allow a non-resident to remain in the school system.
Dice said that the superintendent and school board made its decision based on “caution from ramifications” of students being allowed to attend school who don't live in the Gateway district.
“I believe the superintendent exercised a responsible position. … They'd open themselves up to a flood of lawsuits from other people who have moved out of the district and want to attend school,” Dice said.
Despite still owning her home in Monroeville, Biddle said she never tried to stay based on residency, but rather to maintain stability for her daughter.
“The principal knew I still owned my home and said it was OK (to stay),” she said.
Biddle only wanted the district to stick to its word, providing “special permission” — a waiver of the residency requirement — for her daughter to remain at Cleveland Steward with her classmates until the end of the year.
“I just wanted some sort of normalcy for my daughter. She didn't do the grief counseling well, and she had a great relationship with the guidance counselor. She went every day,” Biddle said.
Dice said that state law prohibits superintendents and boards from issuing residency waivers, but would not say how he came to this conclusion. In fact, Section 1316 of the state law pertaining to student residency appears to conflict with Dice's opinion. It says: “Permitting Attendance of Non-resident Pupils — The board of school directors of any school district may permit any non-resident pupils to attend the public schools in its district upon such terms as it may determine, subject to the provisions of this act.”
“As far as I'm concerned, unless a specific agency body gets specific permission, you're prohibited from doing it,” said Dice. “There's nothing in the law that permits waivers.”
Samson X Horne is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. Reach him at 412-320-7845 or shorne@tribweb.com.
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