Seekonk Schools Supt. Emile Chevrette, left, and Martin Elementary School principal Kevin Madden wait yesterday for the arrival of a student whose parents have not established residency in Seekonk. The student arrived late with the proper documentation and went to her classes.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

SEEKONK — Schools Supt. Emile Chevrette and Martin Elementary School principal Kevin Madden stood outside the school in yesterday’s morning rain, greeting children as they arrived for class.

They said hello to the boy with the umbrella shaped like a duck. They smiled at the girl reading from a Dr. Seuss book. They asked a glum-faced boy how his weekend was.

But Chevrette and Madden were waiting for one little girl in particular: A fifth grader whose family still had not completed the school district’s required residency forms.

The two were prepared to bar the girl from school until her mom turned in the residency documents and re-enrolled her child in the school district. Chevrette planned to talk to the girl and her mom in the school office. Madden gave the girl’s teacher a heads-up telephone call.

They waited beyond the opening bell at 9 a.m.

Still no student.

The two shrugged. Madden headed inside and Chevrette left for his office.

Not 10 minutes later, the girl showed up — late — to Martin with the proper documentation. This fifth grader gets to stay in school after all.

Indeed, it looks like none of the five other students whose residency in town was still in question late last week will be excluded from schools.

Two siblings who attend Martin and Hurley Middle School are on vacation with their family this week, but their father has assured school officials that he’ll return the paperwork when they get back next week, Chevrette said. A student who attends Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School has submitted the proper papers. So has another Martin student.

Remaining in question is just one special-education student who attends an out-of-district school at Seekonk’s expense. Chevrette said that student’s mother has said she would return the residency forms.

So, it seems that the School Department’s final warning to families worked. As recently as two weeks ago, 45 students (from 29 families) were at risk of getting kicked out of the town’s schools because their families hadn’t proven their residency. That number was down from the 93 families who received a warning in August to comply with the rules.

Under Seekonk’s School Committee-approved residency policy, families must submit a notarized affidavit of residency for their children, plus one supporting document establishing residency in town, such as a copy of a lease agreement or mortgage deed, a utility bill or a property tax bill. School boards, under state law, do not have to admit out-of-district students to their school systems.

Chevrette’s wait-and-see at Martin yesterday capped his year-long effort to ensure that all of Seekonk’s schoolchildren are actually Seekonk residents. Chevrette has long suspected that students from neighboring Rehoboth, Pawtucket and the Attleboros have been attending Seekonk schools for free. More than a dozen out-of-town students were forced out of the school district last year.

But yesterday doesn’t necessarily end the issue. Chevrette said he received a phone tip last week that another out-of-district child is attending Seekonk’s schools. He’s checking up on it.

“It just goes to show,” Chevrette said yesterday, “no system is fool-proof.”

mwims@projo.com