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NJ Parents Lie About Address To Get Kid Into "Fame" School
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Jun 23, 2010
Modified Jun 24, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Jun 23, 2010
Modified Jun 24, 2010
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Can you put a price on fame? How about $20,000? That's how much two New Jersey parents owe the Department of Education for out-of-state tuition to Fiorello H. La Guardia School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts. For the past five years, Jill Schifter and Anthony Maulella of North Bergen, NJ have been using a friend's address on the Upper East Side to keep their daughter enrolled in the prestigious school without having to pay tuition. But they got caught.
Their daughter, now a high school junior, began attending Manhattan's Professional Performing Arts School in the 7th grade. Her parents gave the school bills in their name, but under the address of friends Janice and Bradley Lewart, as proof that they had a city address. The parents did sign a lease for an apartment on the Upper West Side in February, but that still leaves over four years of out-of-state tuition owed to the DOE.
According to papers from the DOE, the investigation began in September after the Special Commissioner of Investigation received an anonymous complaint. DOE spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said, "We will seek reimbursement for out-of-state resident tuition." So the case is already wrapped up, except for the identity of this anonymous tipster. We smell a school play rivalry that just got stepped up...
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