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 4 minutes ago
Gateway officials were wrong when they told a mother that state law required them to banish her first-grade daughter from their school system after the family moved out of the district following the death of the girl's father, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
“It is a matter of local policy as to whether a student can remain in their district of origin for the remainder of the year after the family moves,” Education Department spokeswoman Casey Smith said Friday. “The superintendent would have the ability to make that determination.”
Earlier this week, the school board upheld Superintendent William Short's decision that Kamdyn Biddle would have to leave Cleveland Steward Elementary because she was no longer a resident of the district. Her mother, Katy, moved to her parents' home in Murrysville after her husband's death in September, but wanted the girl to remain in Gateway through the end of the school year.
Gateway Solicitor Bruce Dice said he advised the board that state law did not allow a non-resident to remain in the school system and that he supported the superintendent's decision.
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.
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.”
Duquesne University School of Law Assistant Clinical Professor Tiffany Sizemore-Thompson said state courts have ruled that districts can set their own rules for the circumstances allowing non-resident kids to attend school.
“The bottom line is that they have the power to let her stay, but they also have the power to refuse her without any explanation,” Sizemore-Thompson said.
Biddle said Friday she will not appeal Gateway's decision banning her daughter.
“We've moved on at this point,” she said. “I don't want her to go to a school that doesn't want her. They don't care about her.”
The girl started classes Friday at Sloan Elementary School in the Franklin Regional school district in Murrysville,
Biddle said she told Steward's principal in October that she was moving to Murrysville for help caring for her infant twins, and he granted permission for Kamdyn to finish the 2016-17 school year. But Short notified her by letter late last month she had become a non-resident.
Despite still owning her home in Monroeville and paying Gateway taxes, 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.
Also, a Dice-authored opinion addressed to the superintendent, school board members and members of the district was posted on the Gateway website. It contained an error about the Trib's reporting on the story Wednesday and Thursday.
The Trib called Superintendent Short and emailed the board president and vice president about the error and asked that the letter be removed from the website. None of the district officials responded, but the letter was gone from the site late in the day Friday.
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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