<p>Crossposted.</p>
<p>Yikes! So picking your nose is OK? Did she incorporate it into an origami or something?</p>
<p>That little girl was about as advanced academically as anyone I have ever seen. I did not find the kids in those schools particularly advanced. It isn’t what they want.</p>
<p>She didn’t get in, Youdon’t say. Not that school, anyways.</p>
<p>Our kids were interviewed for kindergarten (private) way back when. I thought, with others, that it was not so much to assess intelligence (although there was some of that), as to judge behavior, disposition, etc. And also – this was VERY important – to get a sense of the parents. They did not want troublemaking parents, and seeing them with their child in a somewhat pressured situation was a decent way of finding out about them.</p>
<p>Re: Manhattan public schools. Probably a bit of perfect storm here: The leading edge of the next baby boom. Increasing popularity of the city as a place to raise children. Improvements in many schools under Klein in recent years. Economy makes it difficult to send kids to privates OR to move to the burbs.</p>
<p>The most selective of schools are not having enrollment problems, but plenty of private schools are having them. It’s also a big problem when you have more families needing financial aid, particularly kids already enrolled at the school.</p>
<p>My boys’ school is holding steady on enrollment, but there is a record number of families who are behind in tuition… Until the bodies and checks show up in the fall, no one knows what is going to happen.</p>
<p>There are a number of families who chose to live in Manhattan, with the idea that they could afford it if the kids go to public school. With a good public school as their district school, they weren’t too worried about looking for private schools, not that it would necessarily help since so many are left hanging. Private schools want their commitments by now, and if your kid is in limbo for public school, you are truly left hanging.</p>
<p>Cpt,</p>
<p>I think applications may be down for some of the top private schools, but they had so many applicants for so few spots in the past, it wont afffect viability.</p>
<p>I do agree that the parents who were counting on good public schools are in a difficult position.</p>
<p>I just checked out UrbanBaby and I was ROFL! Check out this thread title: </p>
<p>I wondered how does the math work, when “truly gifted” is supposed to be less than 1% of the population but yet 75% of the “truly gifted” reside in Manhattan.</p>
<p>It’s the water.</p>
<p>Our S (now a college sophomore) had to take an IQ test (the Stanford-Binet V) and then have interviews for gifted public kindergarten in NYC. At one of the schools he was told to “bring something to speak about…not a toy.” (Baby’s first presentation! YEAH!) He brought his rock collection, which was extensive and tons of fun to drag on the subway. Another 4-year-old had a diorama of the ocean floor.</p>
<p>S interviewed at four schools and was accepted at three. One of his preschool friends had TWELVE interviews, because her parents were looking at private as well as public schools. Insane doesn’t begin to cover it.</p>
<p>That said, I cannot say enough good things about the free public education S received from the city of New York. Whatever we had to go through, it was worth it ten times over.</p>
<p>So, you have to interview at a public school in NYC? Kind of against the whole concept of a publc school, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Some of the public HS are magnet schools… for example…</p>
<p>[LaGuardia</a> Arts](<a href=“http://www.laguardiahs.org/application/overview.html]LaGuardia”>http://www.laguardiahs.org/application/overview.html)</p>
<p>[stuy.edu:</a> about: admissions](<a href=“Stuyvesant High School”>Stuyvesant High School)</p>
<p>Those schools require auditions, tests, and interviews… HS students who do not want to go to a magnet school also can attend their neighborhood, non-magnet school without an interview.</p>
<p>In terms of elementary schools… like kindergarten, I do not think an interview is required, unless it is for a gifted program (like post #50 appears to be referring).</p>
<p>I think that the issue in terms of kindergarten is that parents have chosen to purchase or rent in specific neighborhoods because the elementary schools are among the better in NYC. Now they are being told that their children cannot attend the neighborhood school and will have to wait and see to which school their child is assigned. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, all of the public schools in NYC are not equally strong. I think any parent would be angry if they had made a choice to live in a certain elementary school district that they thought would offer their children the best possible education, only to find out that now their child would be sent to a district with a less strong school. ALL public schools should offer students a strong education… It seems like this kindergarten issue is bringing to light the fact that not all the elementary schools are created “equal”. Should they be… YES, but they are tragically not. And as cptofthehouse mentions, no parent wants “their 5 year old on the frontline.”</p>
<p>I hope that this issue is resolved in the short term for the children and their families who will be impacted (which is ALL children and families), AND that it will “shine a light” on the inequities of public education. If all of the kindergarten options in NYC were equitable, then parents might not be as upset that their children cannot attend the neighborhood school.</p>
<p>That makes more sense for a magnet.</p>
<p>I do feel for parents who buy in an area expecting that their kids would go to the neighborhood school. That’s a reasonable expectation, IMO.</p>
<p>Wow! This is fun. I grew up in Queens. I think my local HS was bad enough that they set up some system so we could choose among five of them. At least one bus, maybe two, for all of them. My mom was a public school teacher ( she retired when she took on a girl who threatened to “fight” her…), and got me into the “best” one. Today, I hear the same school is considered one of the most dangerous in the country. I remember friends auditioning for the performing arts schools in Manhattan ( a bus or two, a train or two…), but academics? Nah…</p>
<p>This is why we live in VT.</p>
<p>My D went from k-12 in district 2 and it has always been hard to get a seat in the district since before my D went to kindergarten. Now there are more families living in Manhattan and not enough seats even with the new schools being built. </p>
<p>There are some schools in district 2; PS 234, PS 6, PS41, PS 11, PS 87 where it has always been really hard to gain a seat . Going from one school to another in the district is not the easiest feat because the distict is spread out from lower manhattan to 50th street on the west side, and ~ 89th street and york ave on the east side. Since many parents work, other factors like afterschool programs, ease of transportation dropping and picking up and getting to work are huge factors in selecting a school.</p>
<p>I remember when PS 234 was the only public school in Tribeca. It was over crowed Battery Park City said they did not need to build any schools because there were no children in BPC. There was no neighborhood middle school so once a kid graduated from PS234, they left the neighborhood for middle school. BPC eventually built a school, with housing above the school (PS/IS 89) ~1997 adding ~ 600 seats to the neighborhood. Still there was a shortage of seats, so a couple of years ago, they opened another elementary school, PS 150. There a new elementary/middle school opening fall 2009 at Tweed, and I am willing to bet $ that those seats are already filled for the incoming classes.</p>
<p>NYCDOE PS 3 & 41 waitlist letter</p>
<p><a href=“http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/9D2C7F91-5482-46EA-8015-82FF1DDECCC9/58946/D2PS341WaitlistLetter2009_5_English.pdf[/url]”>http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/9D2C7F91-5482-46EA-8015-82FF1DDECCC9/58946/D2PS341WaitlistLetter2009_5_English.pdf</a></p>
<p>PS151 Zone letter</p>
<p><a href=“http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/9D2C7F91-5482-46EA-8015-82FF1DDECCC9/58815/D2151CoverLettertoParents040709.pdf[/url]”>http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/9D2C7F91-5482-46EA-8015-82FF1DDECCC9/58815/D2151CoverLettertoParents040709.pdf</a></p>
<p>While there is zoning at the elementary and middle school level there is school choice at the high school level with very, very few zoned high schools remaining. However there are some small high school where there is a preference to students living in a specific school district, but it does not guarantee the child a spot in that school.</p>
<p>As some have said, this is not a new problem in the city just an exasperated one due to the current economic climate. The city was doing so well for so long that people kept moving in as singles after college and staying once they got married and had kids. Now that the bubble has burst for so many they are unable to sell their apartment and are unable to send their kids to private school.</p>
<p>Our friends have a very bright son who applied to private and magnet high schools and got in to 4 out of 7 last year for this past Sept. The mom was panicked over her daughter who is not as good a student and has a minor “undeclared” learning disability and was testing/applying this year for high school entry Sept. 09 and she got into all of her schools - what a difference a year makes!</p>
<p>A sudden increase of even 10% in student population will overcrowd almost any school in the country, in NYC it’s that much worse. When I went to a NYC HS we were on triple session - 8-2, 9-3, 10-4. You can’t even imagine how crowded everything was between the hours of 10-4! I survived - we had some merit scholarships, Westinghouse (now Intel) winners, etc. </p>
<p>It will all settle out back to more “typical” numbers in the next few years as people either move out or they financially get back to a surplus and send their kids to private schools. By the way, the vast majority of private nursery schools and elementary schools are not all that hard to get into - it’s just those particular schools that are the “hot” schools of the moment that are most difficult.</p>
<p>It’s all a part of choosing to live in the greatest city in the world!</p>
<p>"When I went to a NYC HS we were on triple session - 8-2, 9-3, 10-4. "</p>
<p>Hey! Me too. We had to race to class, just to get a seat on the radiator.</p>
<p>Exactly!!!</p>
<p>My boys graduated from an independent school that is both very selective and well endowed. The word I have gotten from those who know the finances of the school and the specific circumstance, is that it is a tough go this year. There are famiies who have been with the school for years who no longer can afford it without aid, and the school feels obligated to address that issue. Also the yield was not as good this year. More kids who got into less expensive options, or free ones such as a top NYC public high school, chose to take those options over the expensive private school. This always happens to some degree, but this year there were more instances. And giving is waay down, not to mention the fact that the funds the school has invested have not done well. Still outwardly, all is well, and the mailings certainly do not show any fall off. </p>
<p>I know several wonderful families who are not returning at my youngest’s school because of finances. I have been told that the enrollment situation there is very uncertain this year. The checks have been very slow in coming.</p>
<p>So the liberals in New York City do not like it when a government official takes control of an aspect of THEIR lives? Maybe they should look in the mirror and reconsider their voting propensities, which include regularly casting ballots in favor of controlling the lives of other people. Funny how things come back to bite us in the backside. </p>
<p>The reality is that most Democrats (and many Republicans, who are not conservative at all) really do want bureaucratic control over things, just not over THEIR life, thank you. Other people’s lives? Yes, they are quite OK with quashing liberty there. </p>
<p>I LOVE New York, and New Yorkers. All of them - liberal and conservative (and in between). But let’s be real here. The vast majority of New Yorkers spews a whole lot of liberal garbage, and is all about whatever feel-good, wealth redistribution policies their party espouses. Secretly, however, most of them are closet elitists. </p>
<p>New Yorkers YEARN for Collegiate, Brearley, Spence, Chapin, Horace Mann, Trinity, and Dalton. They will settle for Stuyvesant. The question is, were they able to get their all-too-precious offspring into the 92nd Street Y Nursery School? </p>
<p>Worse comes to worst, New Yorkers expect to use their socioeconomic power to snag a spot in one of the best public schools NYC has to offer. They cringe at the thought of having to endure watching their prodigious son or daughter encounter the riff-raff he or she might find at a typical New York public school. </p>
<p>God forbid these whining New Yorkers should send their kid to an underachieving school and make it better. No – better to vote to take money away from someone else who earned it, and then praise yourself heartily for your good efforts (and close your eyes to the fact that throwing more of someone else’s money at underperforming schools has never succeeded). </p>
<p>Like the Obamas, let the little people go to those bad schools. Send your own kids to only the best. Then pat yourself on the back for being so liberal and wonderful (and caring).</p>
<p>Let’s be honest, here. Most New Yorkers would step on their mother’s back for one modicum of social or academic advancement for their child over a neighbor’s. But really, they are all about what’s good for their fellow man, right? All about doing good, real change, closing the book on that evil, shallow, materialistic previous presidential administration. What a joke.</p>
<p>The typical liberal New Yorker wants the best Hamptons summer rental, the ideal Sunday brunch table, a perfect nanny, and prefers to dress wearing the most articulate, Ivy-educated companions at his side. Like President Obama telling Americans that they have to make sacrifices while his wife wears $540 sneakers to a food bank, Democrats are too often all about hypocrisy (and New Yorkers take it to a whole new level).</p>