White, Wealthy School District Hires PI To Prove Live-In Nanny’s Daughter Doesn’t Belong There (UPDATE)

A school district filled with children who come from predominantly white, wealthy households clearly thought something was amiss when they glanced out at the sea of white children they normally find roaming the halls of their schools, and that perfect lily-whiteness was tainted by the sight of a little brown girl. So they hired a private investigator to get to the bottom of it.

The little girl in question is seven-year-old Vivian. Her mother, Maria, is a live-in nanny to one of the many affluent families living in Orinda, California. The city’s population is over 80% white and just barely four percent Latino. Earlier this month district officials hired a private investigator to determine whether Vivian was an actual resident of Orinda. They determined she was not – even though she and her mother reside in a home inside the district five days out of the week. They gave the little girl until December 5th to leave the school.

Miriam Storch is a 35-year-old working mother who employs Maria and provides housing as part of the conditions of her live-in nanny job. She said she was “flabbergasted” when she received the first letter from the district November 12. She told Inside Bay Area, “It never occurred to me that the school district would hire a private investigator. Why wouldn’t they just come to us and talk to us about it if they had concerns?”

Storch wrote a three-page letter to the district explaining the live-in situation, but to no avail.

Harold Freiman, the school district’s attorney, said he could not speak about the specific investigation, citing student confidentiality laws; however, he said the district would never discriminate.

“Each case is unique to the circumstance of the case,” he said. “This district wouldn’t move forward unless they found concrete evidence.”

Freiman said districts must ensure legitimate residency of students and balance individuals’ rights while “preserving the resources of the district for all the students.”

So, they have no problem spending resources by hiring a private investigator rather than just making a phone call, but God forbid a little seven-year-old Latina is benefitting from any of the taxes the rich, white residents of Orinda pay.

Vivian will likely have to live during the week with her Grandmother in Bay Point to attend school there.

In early November, the private investigator began talking to Bay Point neighbors asking if a young girl lived in the house, the mother said. Maria, who filed a domestic violence protective order against the girl’s father, also continues to get mail at the Bay Point home to keep her actual address a secret. This newspaper is not naming Vivian’s exact school nor using the mother and daughter’s full names to protect their identities.

Could this story get any worse? Actually, it can. When he was questioning the mother, the private investigator identified himself as an auto insurance reviewer. He gave her his business card, and “she recognized his name as the same investigator recommended to serve papers to her ex-husband when she obtained the restraining order.” Maria became afraid that her ex was trying to find out where she lived, so she told the investigator that she lived in Bay Point, even though she spends the majority of her time living in Orinda.

“They put so much effort into proving she lives elsewhere, and they’ve never come here to check if she lived here,” Storch said.

I wonder if the district uses valuable resources to hire a private investigator any time a student who isn’t white sets foot in one of their schools?

UPDATE: From The San Jose Mercury News, “After a torrent of community outrage over its move to investigate the residency claims of a Latina student and then kick her out of second grade, the school district here has reversed course and will allow the girl to stay.” Yay! Public shaming works!

Nope – that was a totally premature, “Yay.” The district will allow the girl to stay, but only if her mom allows her employers to become Vivian’s “official caregivers.”

(photo: KPG Payless2/ Shutterstock)