The Shifting School Equation
There wasn’t room to discuss it yesterday, but we suspect the public/private school issue is on a number of people’s minds. Over the weekend, The Times ran an article about the number of people who bought their apartments in recent years with the assumption that they would send their kids to private school. Now that…
There wasn’t room to discuss it yesterday, but we suspect the public/private school issue is on a number of people’s minds. Over the weekend, The Times ran an article about the number of people who bought their apartments in recent years with the assumption that they would send their kids to private school. Now that the economic downturn has made that a more difficult proposition, they are left to confront the limitations of their own school district. In some cases, parents are even considering renting a cheap apartment within a good school district just to get access—after all, it would be cheaper than the $30,000+ tuition in Manhattan. (It’s more like $25,000 here in Brooklyn.) Question for the renters and those in the market to buy in Brooklyn: Has the school issue shifted your real estate plans since the downturn began?
The Sudden Charm of Public School [NY Times]
Photo by Steve and Sara
Ringo
Project kid does not equal stupid kid. That is to put it nicely a gross mistatement. The list of what money can do is immeasurable. But it also takes a focused approach and commitment to put the money to good use. Here are just a few examples of what a school with extra funds can do.
1. hire class room assistants so the teach does not have to solely manage 29 kids; and kids who are not grasping as quickly as others can get some one on one help.
2. afford to keep the school open and pay folks to supervise an after school program. There you can offer a broader and enriched learning experience (art, turoring, etc)
3. Fund more school trips, even local trips to shows and museums so the kids have hands on experience and are exicted about coming to school.
4. improve their physical environment
5. put on plays and shows that the kids can be proud of.
6. have plenty of books available in the library and classroom so that they can take them home to read, since their family may not have the diveristiy of reading material they will need or books on varying grade levels.
ALL of the really “GOOD” schools have active and proficient fund raising activitities that pull in hundreds of thousand of dollars to supplement the schools budget.
Rob, I take your point, and I certainly did not pull her out of the school because of this, but I’ll tell you – kids in good suburban public schools get to take French if they like (or Spanish, and even in some cases, Chinese, Russian, and Italian). It irks me that city kids in “gifted” programs (and also non-gifted programs) are not afforded the same educational standards. It also bothers me that opportunities are dangled in front of children by the “good schools” and then taken away on the first few days of school.
My son was in a non-specialized MS in district 13. No foreign language is available to him. I think this is a huge insult to children growing up in a not just a multicultural city, but a mutlicultural world. And yes, he takes Japanese lessons, privately. And yes, I did teach basic French to my daughter, but my skills ended there.
Answer: Move to the Suburbs. Cheaper, Safer and Better Schools. Now you can sleep at night (or on the train).
the graduation rate for the nyc public school system is less than 50%. ’nuff said.
depressing stuff.
quote:
Furthermore, my daughter wanted to take French, but was placed in Spanish because the school “had not anticipated so many children wanting to take French, and therefore did not hire enough French teachers.”
there were tons of classes i couldnt take in school because they filled up, and / or weren’t available. couldn’t you teach her french on the side if she was so bent on learning it? im not putting you down in any way, but sometimes people need to pick their battles better. i went to an urban school system in north jersey and we couldn’t even take a language until 9th grade (the beginning of high school). We had K-8 and then 9-12. i think middle schools are inherently problematic to begin with. you can’t warehouse a gazillion kids with new raging hormones going thru puberty and tough family issues in an environment like that.
*rob*
I’m unfamiliar with the middle schools in Brooklyn, but wouldn’t it make sense that the students from PS. 321 and other good elementary schools will funnel enough kids into middle to create a tipping point of “good” kids?
If enough parents can no longer afford private, then perhaps the larger numbers of students from the better schools will increase the viability of the iffy ones.
I have to say…I’m personally not a fan of private school in general. I’ve met very few people who went to private who ended up appreciating it later in life, and most speak quite negatively about it. I think the private kids have a lot more issues in general than those who went to public school.
I think private school is mostly for the parents so they can feel good about themselves.
Chicken –
217 had a better reputation and better facilities. The gifted program is really wonderful, if you can a place in the program.
139 varies quite a bit, as the quality of your child’s education depends greatly on which “mini school” he or she gets into (yes you have to apply to one of these programs – forget the GE program).
And let me say something about my MS experiences in District 15. I have wonderful things to say about PS 321, for the most part. MS 51 is certainly not a bad school, but if you are expected the quality of education your child received at 321, you will be very disappointed. My child was told by a science teacher at 51 that the 321 children were more advanced that the children from other district 15 elementary schools, and they would have to “wait” while their peers “caught up.” I did not find this to be acceptable. Furthermore, my daughter wanted to take French, but was placed in Spanish because the school “had not anticipated so many children wanting to take French, and therefore did not hire enough French teachers.”
Colonel Steve Austin your information is out of date. PS 8 is already overcrowded with middle school parents from Brooklyn Heights who send their kids there — you can’t get in if you live out of zone.
FYI — PS 8 is an example of a very quick turnaround achieved in a very short time with a dedicated group of parents and the DOE putting a good principal in place. Same as PS 107, which parents did not choose to send their kids to years ago. I guarantee you that as more parents stay or choose public, this will happen quickly in other neighborhoods as well. The concern here is well-overblown. The more parents who choose public schools, the better the schools will be, even if they are overcrowded.
“Isn’t Boys & Girls High School in Bed Stuy supposed to be a really good school??”
Posted by: daveinbedstuy
Umm… no, it’s not. 4 year graduation rate: 34.9%
Considering the disadvantaged kids (Free Lunch: 59%) from lousy neighborhoods that go to the school, maybe not as terrible as it could be. They settled a suit not long ago on policies of warehousing kids in the auditorium and pushing them out of the school.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/nyregion/thecity/30disp.html?_r=2