Why Can’t My Daughter Go To Brewster Schools?

Barbara Evans’ daughter was about to start a new chapter in her school career.

About to start her freshman year at Brewster High School last September, she had already toured the school and Brewster officials had given her a class schedule. Then, just before her first day of classes, the Evans family was told she was not eligible to attend. Living on the New York/Connecticut border between Brewster and New Fairfield, Brewster officials contend education law dictates she isn’t allowed to go to Brewster schools after she spent several years in the New Fairfield school system.

But Evans, who lives on Miltown Road, isn’t satisfied with that determination, and is ready to fight it in hopes of getting her daughter in Brewster by the start of next school year.

Evans said she wants to move her daughter from New Fairfield to Brewster because of unbearable bullying at her current school. The bullying got so bad that her daughter, a freshman at New Fairfield High School, had to change her entire class schedule midway through the school year and eats lunch in the guidance counselor’s office.

“A straight A, B student, her grades have dropped, she has anxiety, she’s going through all these problems,” Evans said. “And I, as a parent, need to do what’s best for her and I know that I have every right for my child to go to Brewster.”

She said she only sent her children–three of them–to New Fairfield after moving back to the area because that’s where she could find daycare at the time.

Evans paid more than $1,500 in taxes to the Brewster school district last year. The Town of Southeast assessed her property as vacant, even though she claims some of her actual house is on the Southeast side of the border.

Evans is currently a renter of her home, but because her family owns the property, she said she is close to purchasing the deed to the property. After the sale goes through, Evans said she is going to attempt to reenroll her daughter in the Brewster school district after an attorney told her being a homeowner would help her chances.

Even more puzzling to Evans, she has previously sent two of children, including the one she wants to enroll in the district now, to Brewster schools from the same exact address and as a renter when they first started school. Her daughter was enrolled for kindergarten and first grade before the family moved to Florida for a short time.

The only difference, Evans noted, is the bus picked her children from Creative Kids Childcare Center, a daycare fully located in Brewster, and not her home on the border. If where the bus picks her up didn’t raise red flags, Evans doubts there would have been an issue with her going to Brewster.

Evans argued other families in homes also on the border have been allowed to send their children to Brewster without any issues, frustrating Evans even more because “I feel like I’m the only one being told no.”

The district, in a February letter written by business administrator Victor Karlsson, stated that based on information and documentation provided by Evans, including her driver’s license (Connecticut issued), utility bill, and a notarized letter from her landlord, as well as property tax records, indicated the household under education law is in Connecticut.

“Your children are not considered legal residents of the District, and are not eligible to attend school in the District at this time,” Karlsson wrote, adding Evans has the right to provide further proof of residency at any time to the district or appeal to the state education commissioner.

In an email, Karlsson further explained the Commissioner of Education established rules that a property intersecting two New York school systems do not apply to property intersecting school districts in two different states.

“The laws of New York do not provide a mechanism for the school district to collect taxes from the other state for the portion of property located outside of New York,” Karlsson wrote. “Based on the property assessments, we determined that the home is located, for purposes of residency under the Education Law, in Connecticut and not in New York.”

Elected officials have also caught wind of the issue.

Putnam County Legislator Roger Gross met Evans at an Elks Club event recently and offered his assistance. Gross, who worked as a teacher in the district for three decades and was a school board member for several years, said he hopes the district takes another look at the issue. Southeast Councilman Bob Cullen, at a March school board meeting, asked the school board about the situation, stressing he doesn’t want an ongoing legal battle that could result in more expenses for the district.

“There appears to be ample evidence that a number of households are taking advantage of questionable residency requirements,” Gross said in an email. “The family in question has a strong case for reevaluation to gain such requirements.”

Evans said she’s spoken informally with Superintendent of Schools Tim Conway–both are in Brewster Rotary–and he’s told her the district must abide by what its attorney deem to be correct. She is also in the Brewster Elks Club and owns the Shell Station on Route 22.

“To me, she’s a student that Brewster needs,” Evans said of daughter. “She’s a go-getter, wants to help, and she’s a good kid.”