NYC principal faces scrutiny for allegedly using parent’s address to dodge $5,000 tuition fees in daughter’s school

A Brooklyn school principal has been accused of using a fraudulent address to enroll her daughter in a higher-performing school near her workplace, effectively avoiding thousands of dollars in non-resident tuition fees.
Samantha McElhaney John

, the principal of PS 327 Dr. Rose B. English in Brownsville since September 2023, allegedly listed a Brooklyn address instead of her actual home in Roosevelt, Long Island, to enroll her daughter in

Brooklyn Landmark Elementary School

in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the New York Post reported.

This school is located just ten minutes from where John works.
By using a Brooklyn address, John bypassed the

New York City Department of Education

’s (DOE) requirement that non-resident students pay tuition. For a general education student, this fee is $5,425 per year, while special education students can incur costs as high as $48,392 annually as per NY Post’s report.
Questionable address listed

Records indicate that John’s daughter’s home address is listed on Thomas S. Boyland Street in Brooklyn, a location where Jessica Mott resides with her two children, who are enrolled at PS 327. However, when questioned about the situation, Mott refused to confirm whether she had given John permission to use her address.
New York City DOE requires parents to provide at least two forms of proof of residency, such as a lease agreement or utility bill, to enroll a child in a school. However, it remains unclear how John managed to verify the Brooklyn address for her daughter’s enrollment in July 2023.
Legal and ethical violations
According to legal experts, falsifying an address to gain school admission can be considered fraud or even larceny. Experts argue that the act is particularly concerning when committed by an education leader, as principals are responsible for upholding school policies and ensuring that all families follow enrollment procedures.
Tim DeRoche, co-author of When Good Parents Go to Jail, a 2023 study on address-sharing, emphasized the conflict of interest, speaking to NY Post, “It’s certainly a conflict of interest for a public-school administrator to engage in that kind of activity at the same time that they’re enforcing the rules against other parents.”
While DeRoche’s watchdog group, Available to All, advocates for equitable school access and opposes prosecuting parents for address fraud, he expressed no sympathy for education officials who exploit the system for personal gain.
It is unclear whether John enrolled her daughter at Brooklyn Landmark for convenience or because of its higher academic performance. Brooklyn Landmark students perform significantly above the citywide average in state math and reading exams, while students at PS 327, the school John oversees, score well below average.
Meanwhile, Roosevelt public schools, where John actually resides, have long struggled with poor performance. The New York State Education Commissioner took control of the district in 2002 due to safety concerns and low academic achievement, but little improvement was made over 11 years. In 2022, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli identified the Roosevelt district as being under “fiscal stress.”
According to the report, John arrives at PS 327 in the morning with her daughter, who wears a bright orange Brooklyn Landmark shirt. The child waits in the principal’s office until John takes her to Brooklyn Landmark before returning to her own school. This daily routine reportedly raised suspicions about the child’s actual residence.