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the orland park prairie | August 8, 2019 | 3
New D135 committee looks to residency investigator to curb non-resident enrollment
Officials have
disenrolled 20
students over past
two years
Will O’Brien
Freelance Report
Orland School District
135’s newly created board
advisory committees have
started getting to work, and
the hiring of a residency
investigator was among
the first topics one of the
groups tackled.
The Policy and Personnel
Advisory Committee
held its first meeting July
15 and discussed filling the
district’s vacated residency
investigator role. D135 had
employed such a professional
— tasked with investigating
suspected cases
of non-residency — since
July 2017, but the individual
resigned in June, according
to John Bryk, D135’s
interim superintendent.
The committee, which
makes recommendations to
the full School Board, talked
about options for filling
the position, which also
could include the hiring
of a firm, Bryk said. The
board may vote on the matter
within the next month.
The five advisory committees
were formed in
June in response to community
calls for transparency,
Bryk said. The groups —
communications, finance
and operations, teaching
and learning, and technology
are the other focuses
— include community residents,
district parents, staff,
school board members
and administrators. They
were established to bring
more points of view to the
district’s decision-making
“The goal is to prevent nonresidents from
receiving district services that are supported
by taxpaying residents. Nonresident students
enrolled in our district take educational and
extracurricular services and opportunities away
from district residents who pay property taxes.”
John Byrk — D135 interim superintendent, on using a residency
investigator
process, Bryk said.
“There are a lot of people
in our district with expertise
that can benefit the
district,” Bryk said.
By Aug. 6, all of the
committees were expected
to have conducted their
first meetings, and several
had scheduled their second,
Bryk said. The initial
gatherings were largely
used as an opportunity for
introductions, review of
procedures and “building
a group dynamic,” he said.
The agenda for the Policy
and Personnel committee’s
first meeting was
light, but the group spent
a portion of the evening
weighing options for residency
investigation.
D135 has 5,203 students
and, over the past two
years, its residency investigator
confirmed 20 cases
of out-of-district students
being enrolled, Bryk said.
All of the students were
withdrawn.
Having an investigator
on staff or partnering with
an investigative firm is a
good way to ensure taxpayer
dollars are being protected,
Bryk said.
“The goal is to prevent
nonresidents from receiving
district services that
are supported by taxpaying
residents,” Bryk wrote
in an email to The Orland
Park Prairie. “Nonresident
students enrolled in our district
take educational and
extracurricular services and
opportunities away from
district residents who pay
property taxes.”
Numerous neighboring
districts — including Oak
Lawn, Warren Township,
Plainfield and Homewood-
Flossmoor — employ investigators,
as well.
Before having an investigator
on staff, D135 handled
such matters through
Please see residency, 11
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