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.
11:03 is not a homeowner, pure and simple. Not all homeowners have cash to put 50% down and live on all floors of their home (few do). Most rent out a portion of their home to offset expenses or for a little extra income and believe me, while we are renovating our home, we live paycheck to paycheck. We do not have an extra $20,000 per year laying around to pay for private school. We don’t even have $2,000. So, before you spout off your mouth and talk about something you know NOTHING about, live a little and learn a little. And, most importantly, save some money so you can buy a place yourself and see what it’s really like.
Just to give a little perspective from somebody who actually has first hand experience. (Not that negative bombast doesn’t have a place, think how sparse these forums would be without it.) We applied to kindergarten at Saint Ann’s for our son for next year. We didn’t get in. Later, I learned that after all the siblings and legacies were taken care of there was ONE spot available for a boy in the class. One. Frankly, I was surprised they took our application money for adds roughly equivalent to the Lottery.
yeah, St Anns doesn’t have any arts at all
Private shools suck at music and art (if they even offer it).
Some of the things that ARE PROVEN to enhance the lives of children.
For that reason, we chose Public Schools.
Public pre-K in NYC is partially funded by the state. The state (maybe it gets federal funds?) pays for 2.5 hours of pre-K a day: 9 to 11:30. No one wants only 2.5 hours of pre-K a day. Schools with these “half day” programs sit empty. So, schools with full-day pre-Ks (8:30 to 2:30) are paying for the rest of the day out of their general education budget.
It is a very legitimate question why schools in wealthy neighborhood continue to offer full-day pre-K when they may have to do lotteries for overcrowded kindergarten classes. PS 8 wanted to jettison its pre-K program, but the Board of Ed wouldn’t allow it. Instead, PS 8 may have to put trailers in its playground for a pre-K program it doesn’t want and probably isn’t needed. WHY?
11:03 – One problem with your “logic”
I grew up going to public school, live in Park Slope in a brownstone now and would NEVER send my children to private school. I am a firm believer in the Public School System.
It isn’t about what’s affordable or not (although since we bought our house here for 600K, we are far from the demographic you describe) it’s about what one believes in.
From my experience, many children do better in Public Schools. Since my wife and I both came from very modest means and went to public schools and both put ourselves through college and masters degrees, I would like to instill these same things in my children.
I am so sick of people who say they are so sick of everything.
10.54 – don’t worry about those studies, Look at the neuroscience studies in Nature and Science. 1-4yrs is critical.
I am so sick of all these parents in Cobble Hill, CG, and especially PS that buy $2 M plus brownstones and complain that the public schools are overcrowded and will not admit their child. I’m sorry but if your making that kind of cash to buy a brownstone, you have more than enough cash to send your kids to private school and allow other less fortunate families a chance to attend their local public school.