Report: HCSD Used "Unconstitutional" Enrollment Requirements

The Harrison Central School District was wrong to ask incoming students for their social security numbers, according a recent report by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The report identified Harrison among 139 districts in New York—and 14 in Westchester County—that asked for the social security numbers of children who were in the process of enrolling. They also estimated that in total 20 percent of schools in the state have unconstitutional enrollment requirements.

Federal and state law prohibit schools from asking for any information that could reveal the immigration status of a child or parent. In response the Harrison Central School District has already modified its policies for screening incoming students, administrators said this week.

"Requiring proof of a child's immigration status in order to register for school creates an impermissible barrier that prevents some children from exercising their right to an education," said NYCLU Advocacy Director Udi Ofer. "We may never know how many children have been deprived of an education."

Federal law mandates a free public education for any child, regardless of his or her immigration status or that of the parents. A 1982 Supreme Court decision, Plyler v. Doe, acknowledged that undocumented students had a constitutional right to education and prohibited districts from having enrollment requirements that could discourage such students from seeking to enroll.

The NYCLU report spurred the State Education Department to issue a memo earlier this month to school officials clarifying aspects of the law and encouraging districts to review registration documents.

"Undocumented children, like U.S. citizen children, have the right to attend school full-time as long as they meet the age and residency requirements established by state law," the memo reads.

Harrison School Superintendent Louis Wool said the district "immediately made the adjustments suggested" by the NYCLU, adding that social security numbers were never used to determine immigration status.

"Our intention for collecting social security numbers had nothing to do with a child's status as a legal or illegal alien," Wool said. "The purpose of collecting social security numbers had to do with checking as to whether or not students who are enrolled in our schools were residents of the community."

In a case where the district suspects that a parent may have provided a false address in order to register in Harrison schools, a private investigator is sometimes hired to find out the truth. The social security numbers were sometimes used to aid that investigation, Wool said, adding that such practices are very rare and only used when information is found that warrants the district's concern.

"One of the tools [investigators] utilize is social security numbers, to authenticate whether or not parents were residing within the district," Wool said. "The problem with people who engage in this practice is that it creates an expense to the taxpayer of the community for a non-resident, driving up cost, and utilizing funds that should be directed toward resident children."

Other local districts that have modified policies and registration forms include , and the Tarrytowns.