A Brooklyn principal living on Long Island is under scrutiny for allegedly using the address of a parent at her Brownsville job to enrol her daughter in a higher-performing school just 10 minutes from where she works, The Post has learned.
The alleged subterfuge allows Samantha McElhaney John, who has led PS 327 Dr. Rose B. English since September 2023, to avoid paying the city at least $5,000 in non-resident tuition. John, 47, resides in Nassau County’s Roosevelt, where public schools have struggled and were once taken over by the state.
However, her daughter’s home address is recorded at Brooklyn Landmark Elementary School in Bedford-Stuyvesant as Thomas S. Boyland Street, an apartment building a few blocks from PS 327. Jessica Mott lives there with her two children, who attend PS 327.
“I can’t answer no questions right now,” Mott told a reporter who knocked on her apartment door. Mott refused to say whether she knew that John had used her address or whether she had given the principal permission to do so.
To enrol a student in NYC, parents or guardians must provide at least two proofs of residency, such as a rental agreement or utility bill.
Joyce Beckles-Knights, the principal of Brooklyn Landmark, did not respond to an email inquiring how John verified the Brownsville address when she enrolled her daughter in July as a first-time DOE entrant. Legal experts note that claiming a false address to enrol in a public school can be prosecuted as fraud or larceny.
By using a Brooklyn address, John, who made $179,251 last year, avoids the non-resident elementary school tuition of $5,425 per year for a general education student or $48,392 for a special education pupil.
Sources indicate that John routinely arrives at PS 327 in the morning with her daughter, who wears a bright orange Brooklyn Landmark shirt.
The girl sits in the principal’s office until John leaves to drive her to nearby Brooklyn Landmark, then returns to PS 327.
It remains unclear whether John enrolled her daughter in Brooklyn Landmark because of its proximity to her job or the school’s educational quality.
Students at Brooklyn Landmark consistently score well above the citywide average on state math and reading exams, while kids at PS 327 score significantly below average.
Roosevelt public schools have a long history of trouble. The state education commissioner took over the district’s low-performing and dangerous schools in 2002, achieving slight improvement after 11 years.
In 2022, state comptroller Tom DiNapoli found the district under “fiscal stress.” Experts say that addressing falsification, which could be potentially criminal, is particularly unethical when committed by a principal.
“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,” said Tim DeRoche, co-author of “When Good Parents Go to Jail,” a 2023 national study on “address sharing.”
DeRoche, president of Available to All, a watchdog group advocating for equal access to public schools, opposes prosecuting parents for address falsification.
However, he expresses no sympathy for education leaders who exploit the system to enrol their children in more desirable or conveniently located schools.
“I would agree that’s an abuse of authority. Certainly, her job could be in jeopardy,” DeRoche stated regarding John.
John did not respond to messages seeking comment, and DOE spokespersons have not answered repeated inquiries.
