Dear Judy

My older son will be attending a private Manhattan high school in September, my middle son is 11 and my daughter 9. We are currently in a Nassau County school district but are considering making a move into Manhattan. What are the top ranked public schools in NYC ?   Does moving into a specific school district guarantee that your child will be able to attend? Thanks for any input.

Kevin

Dear Kevin,

You will find many good schools in Manhattan and in the other four boroughs as well! Insideschools does not rank schools but you may use the Advanced Search feature in our Find a School section to see the schools we consider noteworthy. They are marked with a blue ribbon. If you want to see individual schools' test results and lots of other data, check out the accountability pages on the Department of Education's website.

As a rule, an elementary school child is guaranteed a seat in the school zoned to her residential address. In Manhattan, however, where in the last few years people have moved to a neighborhood specifically to be eligible for a good school and new construction has added even more families, this rule does not always hold. Right now, many kindergartens have waiting lists and if the schools become overcrowded, the district is responsible for finding a new seat for those who have been closed out.<!--more-->How this affects older children, such as your fourth grader, varies from school to school. If overcrowding did not hit until recently, the fourth grade is probably still open to registration for zoned students. When you have a potential address, call 311 to learn which school is assigned to it.  Check with the school, and with the local enrollment office, to find out if the school enrollment has been capped. If so, ask if there is a specific alternative for zoned students.

Admission to middle school varies depending on the district. Many districts have no zoned schools. Instead they have a choice process that allows students to apply to an array of middle schools. In Manhattan's districts 1,  3, and 4, there are no “zoned” schools to fall back on. Competition can be fierce for the top schools.  In District 2, you have zoned schools as well as schools of choice.

You can access middle school directories at the DOE'swebsite, where you can also find statistics for individual schools.   Take a look at New York City’s Best Public Middle Schools by Clara Hemphill and the Insideschools staff.  Use Insideschools.org to call up a list of noteworthy middle and secondary (6-12) schools by district and neighborhood. Keep in mind that the application process takes place during the year before entrance, so if you are moving in September, you will have much less choice.  In late August, to accommodate newcomers, the Department of Education sets up  special enrollment centers. The dates have not yet been set for this summer.

My advice? Start your school real estate search now. By August you’ll be prepared and your kids will be settled in school by September.

Are there other readers out there who have recently moved to New York City and done a school search? Please share your advice in comments below!

Good luck!

Judy