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.
The studies “proving” the benefits of pre-K are undertaken by the educrats who have a vested interest in continuing pre-K.
In the ‘burbs, other than in some low-income areas, there is no pre-K. Tell the parents of kids in Scarsdale that their children are at a disadvantage to PS kids because the PS kids have pre-K.
Show me see a study of SAT scores of children from families of similar means who attended pre-K and did not attend pre-K. There will be NO DIFFERENCE.
10:30, like 10:17 and many others on this thread, I too believe in and support public school education and feel the strength of the country’s future is heavily dependent on the strength of the public schools. So I applaud the efforts of active parents such as yourself in improving the public school system. I think it’s terrific.
But I also know many parents who send their kids to private schools (and have heard lots of stories of the different types of horrors involved in that application process) and I think it’s unfair to say they don’t necessarily support their communities. The public vs. private school decision is one of the most difficult decisions for a parent to make and they’re ultimately trying to do what they think is best for their child. Such parents can still be very involved and make valuable contributions to their communities. And what about people without kids? Wouldn’t the extension of your argument be that, since they’re, for the most part, presumably doing little or nothing to support the public schools, they are also not contributing to the community?
$30k per child but no tax credit. So thats $50k of salary per child, per year. jeepers.
Putnam D – how on earth did you make the logic leap from the comments posted above yours to the idea that people are advocating not funding public schools?
You seemed to be very reasonable in the past, but your recent posts are looking more off the wall.
I’m confused about the “plus one for the suburbs” comment.
It would seem to me that the incredible number of children now seeking admission to schools in NYC (15 years ago you COULDN’T PAY someone to attend 99% of NYC Public Schools) is a HUGE plus one for the City….
They will figure it out. While this news may not bode well for a few parents, it bodes EXTREMELY WELL for the NYC Public Education System.
The DOE set rules to make it more fair. Before, parents with more social capital were able to work the system and get their kid in. Others were left out. So they came up with a simpler form. The problem was, the operation in PA screwed it up. People who should have gotten in didnt and vice versa. The screw-ups are in the thousands, not hundreds.
The other problem is they now want to use this same system for K — you used to be guaranteed seat in your zoned school. No more. From a real estate standpoint, it’s important since people all over the country pay more to live in an area with superior schools. It’s not a “park slope yuppie” thing.
Jesus 10:30! Any deeply felt principles?
Your spirit and ethics seem well intentioned here, but your logic is a little loopy. Families with kids in private schools are simply and absolutely un-invested, community-snubbing parasites? Interested in wainscoting and, oh, mmmm, that’s about it?
C’mon. Seriously.
Pre K programs are federally funded by the way.
They also provide free immunization and nursing care to children of uninsured families. How evil is that!
As for living here means I can afford private school, that’s a cheap canard. I suppose I could sell my house to pay for private school, but there’s the wee issue of where I would live.
Private school is $30K per year per child. For 13 years of private education the cost is $390,000 for one child. I have two.
It astonishes me that ANYONE can afford private school.