No this isn't another posting about the NCAA tournament or a blog thanking @DoveMenCare for sponsoring the @nycdadsgroup #citydads March Madness viewing party for the dads night out tomorrow #RealStrength. (But thank you guys, we really appreciate a night out). Its for another kind of viewing party where you might score big by getting an acceptance letter from the Kindergarten of your choice for your child/children which should have arrived. If
your child got into the school you wanted him or her to go to, then good job.
The system worked for you. If not here are you options.
1) Accept the position. This is your
safety school. Just like in college you have safety school and reaches.
Accept the safety school, just so you have a school for your child go to
go. After that you wait it out until everyone has their offer letters and
they start declining them based on a number of factors (such as moving out of
the city, going to private or charter schools or just changing your mind).
You should call the schools and find out
where you are on the wait list. My daughter got wait listed at 5 schools
including PS 333, PS 166 (those are our best chances because those are the closest
schools to our house. We also applied to PS 87, PS 9 and PS199, which are
nearly impossible to get into for us because the students are zoned for those
schools aren't even guaranteed a spot. Our best chance of getting into a
school on our waitlist is PS333, which is 3 blocks and one avenue away.
I know of people who actually live one
block away from PS 333 had the school as their first choice and still didn't
get in. PS 333 which is a largely white school might be trying to
diversify their student body by selecting non white students who ranked the
school lower than parents of white students who ranked it higher. It will
be interesting when the demographics of the school come out at the end of the
year. My guess is that the city has been coming down on schools like PS
333 and PS 166 for not having a diversified student body, which is why white
parents who picked the school higher didn't get in but non white students who
picked the school did get it.
I have heard some stories about parents
who moved into PS 199 school zone only to be put into another school PS 191 and
aren't happy and they shouldn't be. But here's the problem, everyone
wants their kids to go to PS 333, PS 166, PS 87, PS452 and PS 199 and everyone
makes those schools their child's first choices. Guess what not everyone
gets into their first or even their second choices.
So pick the school so your child has a school,
then do your homework. Call the schools, see where your child is on the
wait list if he or she is in the top 10, maybe you have a chance, if not
probably not. Make an appointment with the board of education asking them
to reassign your child to a new school and wait it out. Don't forget to
apply for Charter School, which aren't on the initial application. Also don't
forget that just because a school isn't considered "well developed"
or "proficient" doesn't mean it isn't good. PS 163 used to be
listed as developing but now. We applied to PS 163 and got in, but that
was our 5th choice. The school is very nice, but I have a feeling that
the grades are skewed because of the gifted and talented program that 163 has. I'd
like PS 163 and PS 166 to just include the grades of the general population of
the school and not include G&T in the mix, that way you can make a proper evaluation
of the school for your child.
grt
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