School Admissions Changes Causing 'Chaos'
This year the Department of Education changed its admissions process for pre-K’ers, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, and the shift means a lot of parents are grappling with the fact that their kids have been placed in schools far from home. About 3,000 parents, “including those in large swaths of Brownstone Brooklyn,” recently found out…
This year the Department of Education changed its admissions process for pre-K’ers, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, and the shift means a lot of parents are grappling with the fact that their kids have been placed in schools far from home. About 3,000 parents, “including those in large swaths of Brownstone Brooklyn,” recently found out their kids didn’t get into any of the schools they’d put down on application forms. Yesterday Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and Councilman Bill de Blasio held a press conference to decry the new pre-K placement system, and Gotbaum said the changes “have had some chaotic consequences for parents.” The new admissions process is apparently affecting older kids, too. Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn has been writing about how her child didn’t get in to any middle schools, apparently because of a DOE computer glitch. The blogger is describing the experience as traumatic: “And then [my daughter] heard me talking on the phone to the New York Times. She doesn’t know who I was talking to but she can tell that I am agitated, annoyed, on edge, shakey, not happy and so on.”
Pre-K Snafu Leads Brooklyn Parents To Protest at Tweed [Brooklyn Eagle]
Middle School SNAFU: My Daughter Isn’t On The List [OTBKB]
Photo by Kit & I.
I just love how people always use the ol’
“we didn’t have it when WE were young and we turned out JUST FINE!” battle cry
or some variation, whenever this kind of discussion turns up. It is utterly ridiculous. We didn’t have penicillin or other antibiotics available to most until the 1940’s either…and seatbelts and carseats weren’t routinely used until the 1980’s…weren’t even mandatory installations in cars until the late 60’s…And so on.
Many, many changes and improvements have saved lives and increased lifespans and have made life better for our children as well as for ourselves. And our aging parents. All of us. Do you really believe that argument is a good one?
And the idea that Pre-k is simply “glorified babysitting” is flat out wrong. Go do some research and get back to us. Google it. You. Are. Wrong.
And while you’re at it, take a look at stats on the supposed wealth and privilege of Park Slope. I think you’ll find that the majority are solidly middle class. Not rich. And they care about the education of their children a great deal. Is that wrong?
9:31
You send your kid to PS29 when you can afford private school. Thanks a lot asshat for making the public schools even more overcrowded.
I guess if we follow the reasoning of some here (who I suspect are just seeing how hot and bothered they can get some people) we shouldn’t fund public school at all. I am not sure how this is a suburbs versus city debate at all. I assume parents in both places would prefer that the public schools work well, and serve the entire population. A community which has all the wealthy people (or as in the south, all the white people) going to private schools is not a healthy community. While perhaps I can begin to fathom those who believe other than I, arguing that there should be no public housing, etc, have we really reached the point where we are arguing that public schooling is no longer a necessary component of a just society?
But moving along to the world of the reasonable, it is very frustrating to hear these stories. Part of it is that it seems to render parents completely helpless. The old system, as unfair as it was, at least seemed to reward resourcefulness of the part of parents. The size and complexity of the allocation system appears to be beyond the ability of DOE programmers to handle.
How much is private school tuition in Brooklyn?
This is a new low on Brownstoner. You’re complaining because the city is trying to “over-educate” children?! Nice. Try complaining about the billions/week wasted on an unnecessary f-ing war.
OTBKB and Smartmom are about as insipid as they come.
Warning to politicians and DOE officials: never piss off the Park Slope yuppie mother contingent. They have a massive sense of entitlement and, since none of them work, they have plenty of time to write letters, organize, call politicans, etc.
Go back to dumping on the poor. They have to work for a living and have neither the time nor enegery to stand up for themselves.
Score one for the suburbs? Do the additional 10K+ in propertay taxes get counted in the score?
I accept the there are limited spot. I just want to trust that the system for enrolling children is fair, reasonable, and trustworthy.
Probably the most reasonable comment we’ll see today. Given it’s public policy to have pre-K the process should be transparent.