Parents whose children will turn five this year should submit their applications for kindergarten by Friday. You may apply at your zoned neighborhood school as well as any other schools that may interest you. The good news: Overcrowding in Manhattan has eased a bit as new schools have opened. The bad news: there are still children on the waiting list at some very popular schools.

Children who have been tested for a gifted program won’t find out whether they are eligible until May. So parents need to apply to their neighborhood school regardless of whether they have had their child tested.

Parents of special needs children should fill out an application at their neighborhood school and any other school to which they are applying. They may also wish to attend special Department of Education orientation sessions on how to best get special services. Advocates for Children has a brochure for special needs children who are turning five.

Charter schools have separate applications, due April 1.  For some charter schools, you need to apply in person. For others, you may fill out on a new online application at the New York City Charter School Center.

We recently visited some Manhattan schools that are open to children outside their immediate neighborhood, including Central Park East I, Central Park East II, The Twenty-first Century Academy (open to District 6 children) and Midtown West (open to District 2 children). We also visited a new Upper East Side school, PS 267, that may have room for children outside its attendance zone this year. A new Upper West Side school, PS 452, is off to a promising start.

We’ve posted new reviews of some well-known Manhattan schools: Manhattan New School, PS 183, PS 11, PS 199, PS 452, PS/IS 217, PS 198 and PS 158.

In Brooklyn, we visited PS 20, PS 189, and PAVE Academy Charter school. In Queens, we visited PS 201. (PS/IS 217 on Roosevelt Island also accepts children from Queens in the gifted program.) In the Bronx, we visited Girls Prep Charter School and PS 279. We’ll continue to update our school profiles this spring.

Parents who have been touring schools this winter, please share your insights in comments below or on school profile pages. We welcome your views.