<p>There are many, many Montessori schools and preschools in NYC. They are not organized together like Catholic schools or public schools. (Or most elite private schools, which share vacation and admissions calendars and some admissions rituals such as standardized testing.)</p>
<p>Blossom, I did make the point earlier that when tuition is high, it is often so teachers can earn a decent living.
The private schools I was involved with raised money for that purpose.
There isn’t much status in a school where teachers can’t afford to work more than a year or so.
Especially when with many couples * both* are teachers.</p>
<p>Few of my friends had au pairs. The concept of au pairs is they are doing child care for a family in exchange for room and board, AND there is an educational component to the arrangement ($500 toward education for the au pair). They can’t work more than 45 hrs/week, so for many working parents it doesn’t work. That’s why people are able to get away with paying few hundred $$ for an au pair vs $800-1000 a week for a nanny in NYC.
<a href=“http://www.aupaircare.com/host-families/department-state-compliance”>http://www.aupaircare.com/host-families/department-state-compliance</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Or in many large US cities, Juanita or Maria! </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As everything, such statement deserves its share of greys. The relation between tuition and salaries is not that clear. For instance, many teachers accept a LOWER salary and lesser benefits to work at a private school in exchange for a more pleasant environment. </p>
<p>Some schools have a higher demand and pricing because they deliver a number of amenities that please parents and students. The world of private schools is, however, very vast with no-frills religious schools competing with super pricey schools – and often for the same caliber of kids. The difference in tuition can also be tracked to the administrative costs, and perhaps a lot more than to the teachers’ salaries, which unfortunately are rarely set based on qualifications and quality. </p>
<p>I happen to think that too much derision is sent in the direction of those pricey schools. They target a market that is booming with a large clientele that can pay the fees. New York might just be a city that is known for its excesses as a few miles or blocks separate the most abject poverty from the ultra riches. There are the schools; and there is all that crazy expensive real estate that makes for good “reality” show. </p>
<p>For someone who earns the tuition every day or every week, the school is a financial afterthought. And it is their money after all. I am pretty sure that more money is spent on totally absurd expenses such as lavish parties, private jets, jewelry, crazy weddings … and the list goes on! </p>
<p>The child of a close relative of mine who lives in Riverdale was just “wait-listed” for K at Fieldston. She was also identified as “gifted” by the public school system, so they will have to wait and see where she is assigned. </p>
<p>They have no family connections to the school, and obviously made the huge mistake of not getting her in at the preschool level. They both have non-traditional jobs, so a full-time preschool situation wasn’t needed.</p>
<p>Even in my borough, where it isn’t nearly as competitive, it is insane at the pre-school level for exactly that reason. The day applications opened for my D1, there was a significant amount of snow on the ground and I had a baby, but I can remember running down the sidewalk just as other parents were in order to get her application in among the number that the preferred school would accept for consideration. I had a vision of my kid being shut out forever if we missed pre-school.</p>
<p>I live in NYC…The constant NYC bashing on this site gets a bit stale.</p>
<p>NYC is different than other cities because more wealthy people choose to live in the city itself compared to other cities. </p>
<p>^^
The Dutch like to say: The tallest trees catch the most wind!</p>
<p>We moved out to NJ when D2 was 3. There were only few pre-schools and most of them were affiliated with a church. I remember in order to get into this one school, we were told to stand in line starting at 3 am. We passed.</p>
<p>Some of the preschools in the DC area used to have parents camping out overnight before sign ups. I guess that’s one task where a Duke-style education would come in handy. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We put our kids in a private preschool-4th grade elementary school that I thought was pretty pricey. It was nowhere near $41K - the secular all girls prep school they went to after that was one of the most expensive prep schools in our city, sends most of its students to elite schools, and was still under $30K.</p>
<p>Anyway, back to the private preschool-elementary school. They did lots of finger painting! And playing with clay, and learning how to weave, and how to play musical instruments. They had a barn with a horse, a cow, pigs, and chickens! In 3rd grade, they learned how to form a “corporation,” bought eggs and nurtured them through gestation, raised the chicks to adult hens who laid eggs, then went on to sell those eggs for profit, learning a lot in the process. They had a horticulture center on campus, where they learned about all kinds of plants. Art classes, music lessons, writing and performing their own opera during their “senior” year, you name it they did it. And never received grades. Most of these kids went on to the vigorous prep schools in the area and then to the elite colleges. There ARE ways to guide kids to academic excellence that don’t include weighing them down with homework, competition for grades, etc., at an early age. I know we never paid more than 18K a year for this school, and I wouldn’t trade that experience for my kids for anything!</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>A student is not a vessel to be filled, but a lamp to be lighted.</p>
<p>My only regret is that I could not buy more stock in the corporation! ;)</p>
<p>^^^^LOL, BINGO xiggi. </p>
<p>My girls literally get the shaky I’m about to cry voice when they reminisce about their days at that school. Other friends who made different choices poo pooed that school as “too nurturing-what are they going to do when they get into the ‘real world’?” I really wasn’t worried that my kids were going to be damaged by too much nurturing.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In my experience, schools generally pay for hours worked, teachers in public districts are often expected to work off the clock. At least in the type of schools that charge a years salary for many people.
Our district does not have preschool except for a small number of very low income kids.
Is public preschool common elsewhere?</p>
<p>Many private school teachers do accept a lower salary but often do so because one of the benefits is free tuition or substantially reduced tuition for their own children. That translates into serious dollarsl at some private schools. They also value teaching in the school where their children attend - although IMO there can be downsides to that as well. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Many also prefer the elite private schools because they know there is a culture of appreciation of the benefits of education, high levels of achievement, and low levels of discipline problems and potential for student violence on campus. There are certainly downsides which go along with that, too, but when I was a teacher in a public school district, a common theme I heard in the teacher’s lounge was “GOD I wish I could afford to take a job in the privates!”</p>
<p>Private school teachers also have more time during the day to grade papers/tests, instead of doing them after hours. When D1 was at our public school, her homeroom teacher taught every single class, except for gym and music/art. At her private school, the homeroom teacher taught math and reading when they were below 5th grade, and they had different teachers for science, Spanish, music, art, gym. Their private school teachers had 3+ hours per day not teaching, whereas the public school teachers barely had an hour break a day.</p>
<p>What I don’t get is how my siblings and I managed to become normal, somewhat well adjusted and successful adults only having gone to public schools and never a pre_ k school?</p>
<p>^^^If I understand correctly, getting your kid into the “right” public school in NYC is a nightmare. That whole system baffles me; in my state, you go to the public school to which your neighborhood is assigned. There is no “getting in” or “not getting in.” I think I’d have a nervous breakdown if I had to go through that even to put my kid into public school.</p>