Comments on: Kindergarten update from DOE

By: toral

toral — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:04:33 +0000

thank you to helen. for ps 3 / ps 41 (our zoned schools) the doe is keeping the waitlist- i finally heard from them today and signed up.

By: helen

helen — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:33:25 +0000

Toral, you should have received a letter from the DOE in response to your application for a kindergarten seat. If you didn’t, go to the school and ask to register, and call the DOE (again, I know) and explain that you’ve not had any confirmation of your child’s application. From your post it’s not clear if the school you prefer is your zoned school or not, which makes a difference, especially for high-demand schools. To my best understanding, wait lists are maintained by schools, not DOE, and schools are supposed to hold space for students who arrive and seek registration over the summer and into early fall.

By: toral

toral — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:37:46 +0000

SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!
what i don’t understand is how you get on the waitlist in the first place. i mailed in the application, never received a letter and have called the doe and the placement office and they have said, ‘we don’t yet know where the waitlist will be.’ they said to call back next week. they took my name but that is it. i preferenced ps 3, have called them and they have directed me to integrated services- they say the same thing. i basically have no idea if i am even an on a list or not. i would appreciate your thoughts.

By: UWSmom

UWSmom — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:56:58 +0000

to poster #23: we are zoned for 165 and chose another public kindergarten for our child. we would have loved to go to our local school, but it seems like 165 isn’t even trying to make the school attractive to the many parents in the zone who work for columbia and could be providing donations and resources. as you said, they stopped doing new g&t classes, and many parents pulled their children out of the g&t classes they did have because they hated the amount of time spent on test prep. it is crazy the school and the community can’t get together to figure out how to make this zoned school work for everyone.

By: Anon

Anon — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:26:22 +0000

Reading that NY Times article, I wonder how much of the furor could be abated if PS 165 — which most of the parents’ quoted are zoned for — had accepted a new G&T kindergarten last year. Could that school be made more inviting to all the families living in the area? Would they bring donations and resources helpful to the lower-income kids currently served by that school? Are the “bad” schools really that bad?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:17:22 +0000

beth: be careful of the ps290 admission process. i live in UES, and i heard that ps290 is already “full” and that even kids who are zoned are placed on waiting list.

By: brooklyn p.o.v.

brooklyn p.o.v. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:04:34 +0000

What they do to accomodate another Kindergarten class is make upper grade classes (3rd, 4th, & 5th) huge (30-35 students) which is just as detrimental to students already identified as struggling given all of the standardized testing. Of course, if the city was able to create schools that were all as desirable as the 5 or 6 identified by the NY Times in Sunday’s Real Estate section (and believe me as a teacher and a parent there are quite a few others out there) this would not be such a problem. Just be forewarned that when you push for that spot in Kindergarten someone else will be doing it when your child reaches the upper grades.

An active PTA with the ability to bring in significant additional financial resources is a major contributing factor to a schools success in any neighborhood, as is a savvy principals ability to juggle their own schools numbers and budget.

By: heading to first grade

heading to first grade — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:22:49 +0000

We all fret about school placement, and do whatever we can to get our son or daughter into the ‘best’ school. Sometimes this is our zoned school, and sometimes it is not. What we each need to remember is that it is our job as a parent to advocate and fight for what is best for our child. The DOE and our local, zoned school are not going to make things happen, unless YOU make it happen.

The reality is that this is the way the NYC schools are, and always have been. Parents will lie to get their kids into a preferred school, will pull strings with officials and principals, and will cry bloody murder when they don’t get what they want.

Although both the pre-K and the Kindergarten processes were awful to endure, now that my child is headed to first grade next year we don’t have to think about this process again until middle school. Happily I do not know of any parents that are unhappy with the school their child is attending for Kindergarten this year.

My advice, take a deep breath, figure out what you want for your child, fight for it, but willing to take your second or third choice. You might be surprised how much you like the school for your child. Even if the school’s grade or test scores are not the top in your district, it is the parents that make the real difference. Perhaps you and your child can make a difference.

By: Beth

Beth — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:59:36 +0000

Need some help on this one…. we are moving to UES to PS 290 school zone in December from Ireland. How would I go about getting him sorted to start school as soon as we get to the city? I’ll time the move so that it links in with when the PS 290 christmas break is over. Thanks for any help or info on who to contact.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 07:03:32 +0000

BTW, how are the PS151 UES kids doing this year? Can any parents out there share their experience?? We went thru chaos last year, but it was worth it (for me personally) since my 5 yo daughter is in a “desirable” UES school. Not sure what’s going to happen to my son in 2 years, he’s only 2 yo now. And there’s so much talk about rezoning, new schools, etc. Let’s face it, there is a HUGE variation in educational standard amongst the 6 schools for us “unzoned/PS151″: PS 6, 290, 158, 183, 59, 198, and it is a mysterious lottery process/