UES - PS school admission process questions

If he's entering 1st he will probably be ok as some k families move. If not, there are various options depending on the year, but generally speaking he'll be placed in a comparable good ues school.

Overflow is now to PS 151. It's getting positive feedback from parents so far. Good luck!

No guarantees but if entering 1st you are probably fine. That said, they will place you in neighborhood school if there is no room, they won't send you to the outskirts of district 2. Waiting lists depend on the year, our school only had 8 this year, 80 last year. UES was just re-zoned, I don't know about 290's list that year. One thing to consider, they don't have a gym, other schools in the area might be worth considering.

Are you kidding about the gym? They have a fabulous gym teacher and use the huge cafeteria. It has multiple basketball hoops, rock climbing wall, ropes, they play hocket etc. School is fabulous with a very strong and supportive pta

Gym is the joke
What's the difference what the facility looks like if you child is only going to have ONE gym class per week. That's right, ONE 40 minute run around per week.
Think that's much physical education?

It really does not matter which UES public school your kid gets into.
They all have huge learning gaps which you need to identify and fill in ON YOUR OWN.
Physical education is critical to your child's developmental learning.
We enrolled our child in Sokol 2-3x/week. It's an Eastern European-block style of Phys ed that your child will most likely hate (in the beginning) but, will come to appreciate as their physical abilities improve. What is particularly good about this place is that they take ZERO shit from your kid. This is KEY for the spoiled UES kid who need to learn to do what they are told.
Imagine Joseph Stalin meets Jack Lalane.
Science and math are also weak at PS6, PS158, PS290
For math I'd try Kumon, if your kid has no learning problems.
This provides the repetitive math learning that has been abandoned by these schools in favor of conceptual mathematics.
Handwriting skills have also been abandoned. The value of graphomotor skills has been dismissed by out local educators. Hand writing is critical to the development of fine motor skills and coordination. You will also have to do this at home.
Science...your on your own.
The science teacher at PS158 is nothing short of an embarrassment to the profession of education.
Download the NYS syllabus from the edu.gov
Follow along with the science curriculum.
The State dictates what is to be taught. The teacher decides how to convey the concepts.
You will find huge gaps between the syllabus and what gets taught.
Whatever is missing, do at home with materials downloaded from the internet.
As long as you are diligent and consistent you can utilize the public system in the early grades.

Don't worry so much about the gym.
Worry about how you're going to keep your child out of CTT class.
Worry about how you're going to keep your child out of the classroom with the brain dead teacher.
Try to keep your child out of PS158.
The principle is a horrible educator and an awful human being.
On this the community is unanimous.

you tell'em falco. this was why mr. lucille and i ultimately decided to bite the bullet and abandon manhattan. this is not a very popular sentiment, but we agreed that gen ed publics were just unacceptable (ducks). and with the amount of supplimentary activities required, you might as well home school! you end up teaching them pretty much every single subject on your own, why even send them to school?

to be clear, *i* have had no experience filling in the gaps in my kids' education, they are still too little for school. but this is the common experience of gen ed parents i used to talk to about school. just don't be as stupid as me a connect those dots for them by pointing out they are essentially educating their own children outside of the school system. inexplicably, they don't react to that very well.

Lucille, is your husband really Mr. Lucille as opposed to Mr. Bluth? I have to say, that is rather odd if it is true.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1378919/I-think-Lauren-Bush-Lauren-Model-fianc-e-Ralph-Laurens-son-engagement--future-married-name.html

What will she do when they get divorced?

Meh. As long as we're generalizing (and I have no trouble with public-school-as-free-daycare-educate-your-kid-yourself anyway sentiments), there are huge holes in U.S. & Canadian school curricula. NYC is far from the exception. Math education is bad almost everywhere. World geography & history non-existent. "Highly ranked" suburban schools are no panacea either. Parents spend a lot of time and energy supplementing everywhere.

My older nephew went to 290 and the younger one is starting first next year. Because of sibling policy he had no problem getting in for K. For first it's better. Apparently K is not really required in NYC. They love the schools. It's the outdoor area that is lacking. It is a great GE though and there are some terrific teachers. I wouldn't worry about moving to the area. I also heard very good things about 151.

Falco - my kid is starting at 40 and I know she will be in the CTT class as a model. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. Is it a blessing or will she be influenced by bad kids. Most of the kids that I know are in the class have an IEP. Some of the worst behaved children are NOT in the CTT class. In the GT classes at other schools behavioral issues are not addressed so there can be some bad kids who happen to be smart or prepped and are off to those schools including NEST and Andersen. Sometimes the CTT class can be better because you get an extra teacher.

Sorry Lucille that you found ALL GEs in Manhattan unacceptable for your snowflakes. GL where ever you go.

Charley
It is situation specific.
It's not the other kids, it's the overwhelmed teaching pair who fall into chitchat and distraction in the presence of outrageous demand.
Now, periodiclly remove one because the school needs an emergency sub. Now, one is out sick...no sub. Both are out...one sub. Your child is an early developer so here's a year to slow that the heck down. No child left behind means all you have to do is kill the ones out in front.

Mission Acomplished

thanks for the friendly wishes. as of now my snowflakes will be attending the public school in a decent though by no means top shelf nj town where we rent a fairly modest house.

yeah such is life. Anything is better than moving to the suburbs. If i get the CTT over with then I don't think they'll put her in next year and I have heard - school specific for 40 - that it's a great class to be in. I think Kumon is a great idea and I may enroll her this month just for memorization. Right now it's Kumon type crap on the Ipad.

I am quite nervous about this btw. It ruined my summer.

oh and sometimes I wish she acted like a smart little bitch instead of smart little sweet girl. Then she would never had been put in that class

"Parents spend a lot of time and energy supplementing everywhere."

but their other costs are often marginal compared to manhattan. even the programs themselves and dirt cheap compared to manhattan. you have more private school options in the burbs, more and cheaper camp options. todays manhattan is for the very rich who are honest about their reasons for their lifestyle, or for the depressingly deluded strivers who deny their own reality.

by the way, cccharley, how is that mold that's making your kid sick? because you can't afford to move. suppose that's better than the burbs, too.

you are so sweet Lucille to think of my little one. My air conditioner was immediately replaced with a great one. I'm happy.

BTW the only kids who went private in my childhood days were ones who had emotional problems. I grew up in the burbs and will never return.

i have often been described as considerate to a fault. all the best.

Charley: Kumon can be good, but it is very repetitive. If your child has mastered a concept, they keep repeating the stuff over and over again. Tell 'em to reduce pages if necessary, and retest to get new packets. I have a lot of extra math enrichment stuff if you need - I'll contact you off forum.

FWIW, I learned just as much from speed-reading novels under my desk at school than any school lesson. I had a good amount of phys ed at a posh-ish private school but hated it and got nothing out of it. I love to exercise now and got over my dislike of exercise from school. The bottom line is that everyone's experience, even at the same school with the same teachers can be markedly different. You, as the parent, know what your child's strengths and weaknesses are, and what school (be it public or private) can or cannot do for your child.

Thanks 1--23 - It's funny thought the developmental jumps. One day can't count to 20 then the next to over 100. All kids at these ages - 1-6 develop differently - even later on. I'm not worried. I agree about the exercise. I used to bring in notes or write them myself to get out of PE. I hated it bc I was small and the last one picked on the teams. Ugh brings back bad memories. I loved gymnastics and the like outside of school. No big deal to me. Looks like mine loves soccer and she's good - ARGH - you can't imagine me as a soccer mom can you?

Are there really more private school options in the burbs? I thought that NYC had more private schools than just about anywhere. I've never ready anything that said this but that is my impression.

jojo I suppose if you think all of NJ as a private school option that would hold true. In a small area I would think PS in NYC are top heavy. However, there are very few kids who actually go there in comparison to the number who go to public schools. They private school moms are just very verbal on mom boards.

I'm not convinced that it's any easier to gain entrance into the more desired suburban private schools. The last time I checked, Hackley/Pingry/Rye Country/Lawrenceville/Hun/PDS tuitions were on par with Manhattan private school tuitions. Granted, Kumon et al. probably cheaper (more schlepping though). As far as camp goes, my kids' camp attracts a fair number of suburban families.

Are NYC geneds are so inferior that they must be full of strivers who can't afford or can't get into privates? And refuse to move for the prestige of Manhattan? I do not claim that they're fabulous, but I do not think that they're so bad that it will damage a child permanently and I think that if the school is failing to educate that a concerned parent (ala Falco) will supplement and/or pull the child out anyway.

you got me, i have no numbers to back that up. but it seems like there are a lot of private schools out here. especially in proportion to the population who would seek to utilize them considering the mostly great public schools in the areas where that population would reside. i am comfortable making that statement.

10023, you're only namechaecking pinrgy and lawrenceville in my area of recent expertise. off the top of my head, there is newark academy and kushner in livingston, montclair kimberly in montcrlair, morristown beard, in morristown. every uppity town has a private school, it seems. pingry has 2 locations, on in short hills. there is seton hall prep for boys, that one in summit for boys. lots of options.

Lucille what I was saying is you have to commute. It's not in a little area within 15 minutes. That's what I mean. I would think that most who move to the suburbs do this so to avoid private school if they feel city schools are inferior. I only know one person who had his kids go private in Scarsdale. People move there to utilize the school system that is terrific. They don't move there for private school. That one person would have sent his kids public had he not desired a Jewish oriented education - solomon schecter.

I forgot - you pay a ton of taxes to have this great school system

" I think that if the school is failing to educate that a concerned parent (ala Falco) will supplement and/or pull the child out anyway."

falco does sound very dedicated and involved. i could never be or wish to be that involved. i just want to approve of the school, have my kids go there, join a club, play a sport and just be normal. i dont WANT to follow their curriculum regularly, my parents didn't do that. why would they? i went to a good school! but i will fully admit that the problem of me and those like me is that we just can't afford the same things for our own kids that our parents were able to afford for us. wether this is because we are a genenration of spoiled entitled slackers who never learned to make money or because things today really are insanely moe expansive than in the past, is a different conversation.

cccharley, livingston/short hills/summit/others i am not mentioning because i either don't know or can't remember are all within a 15 minute drive of eachother. even with traffic, nj is just a small state.

cccharley
16 minutes ago
ignore this person
report abuse

I forgot - you pay a ton of taxes to have this great school system

come on, man. you pay a ton of taxes here for a crappy school system. AND you pay obscene property values for a decent nabe with a "good" ps community and dedicated pta, but surprise! your kid is probably not getting in that school next year.

no I don't own so I do not. Most people here do not own. There are little pockets of overcrowded schools. Seriously if you don't live here you really do not know from just reading boards like UB. My kid's school is one of the best and there was no wait list this year. Depends on the population crisis and yes the city did not do what was right when they knew there would be a problem. Anyway, you only have to worry about your own kids and pick what is right for your family. For us we need to be in the city and this city and no other. It's my home and I'm not a transplant after 30 years.

Since you don't want to be involved in the PTA - nor do I - we should be thrilled if both of our schools do the work for us. We should hide our heads in shame.

Let's have the same conversation in a few years. Once the kids go beyond learning to read, write, do basic math, it seems that the same issues surface in suburbia as in NYC (curriculum).

It's impossible for myself NOT to follow the curriculum or try to understand what my kids are or aren't getting at school. This would be true whether or not they went to privates or publics. This is the reality of today's parenting. You sell our parents short when you generalize as to whether or not they cared as much. I think they did, but our generation feels more empowered to ask questions and get service.

As far as private schools in NJ go, based on name recognition in the wider world, I suspect that the same chasm exists between hard-to-get-into, middlingly-hard-to-get-into and easy-to-get-into schools as in Manhattan. And correspondingly, the same issue - whether to pay for private that is arguably the same quality as public.

Interestingly, the people I know who went to private school as kids are dubious about whether the money was well spent on them if they now cannot afford private for their own kids. I have yet to meet someone who thinks that private school is essential (and who went as children) who don't beg, borrow or steal to do so for their kids. Pure anecdote, no hard data.

It is anacdata but I know the opposite. You'll never know and I definitely don't think it's important in the earlier years. Let me get back to you when we start middle = wherever that may be

cccharley, i didn't make the descision to leave new york, MY home, based on some hysterical cage rattling on urban baby. i talked to parents, i attended community board meetings, i religiously read all public communiations from the doe, the community council, other sources i have blocked since. then i looked around at the toddlers and pregnant women who shared my universe. only after i was already disturbed by the inevitable overcrowding did it occur to me to do what falco has done and look up what the kids are actually learning. until then i didn't think there was anything wrong with ps for my precious snowflakes. you'll note that the moms on ub only talk about the test scores, not the scope of knowlege those tests are testing. both my husband and i were very lucky in the standard of our education, and we realized that our children just wouldn't know what we know. i am talking about general knowledge and the confidence and comfort, for lack of a better word, that comes with having received a good education. even if you're not a very bright person, you will just know things because you went to a good school. doesn't mean you'll understand them, but it's important to at least KNOW things! my problem with the public schools was ultimately what they teach. and the gals on ub don't really get into that.

" I have yet to meet someone who thinks that private school is essential (and who went as children) who don't beg, borrow or steal to do so for their kids. Pure anecdote, no hard data."

you can add the bluths to that anecdote!

First of all, although I read UB, I find that they are a bunch of nutters. I think my kid learns a lot just from being around her father from another country and from me and even from TV - oh the horror. I see what they learn and I know it's a lot of rote. I don't think they will learn anything better from a suburban school. I also think when you look too much you will find what you are looking for - which in my mind is - you are looking for a reason to move. I think it's fine what they learn. I also think all the ridiculous supplementing and teaching of mandarin, and 7 different extras is absurd. I think kids should be kids. Test scores at 4 are just as ridiculous. These women are just trying to justify their existence through their children. It always makes me laugh. So at least it's entertaining. Come one - your kids are going to learn. They may not learn in the exact manner you want them to but they will if they have any intelligence. Oh and Lucille I had a big time education. I wasn't in the advanced baby class but I was the only one who was by high school. It means nothing at this age. Kids learn just by living. I love when I read about these women taking their kids to museums all the time as if it will permanently teach them. the point is if you wish, take them to a museum and then follow it up - to teach. If that's what you want. We aren't that into it. I wait till my kid tells me she's interested and then follow. I know that's not how UB women do things. They take and teach and teach and take and the kid never gets to elaborate on what he's interested in. Hey you're the parent and this is what you want for your kid. I want my kid here. She'll do just fine and if she needs to learn more - she will. Who knows? Maybe she'll be a dumb snowflake. Then what? Should I push her so she hates learning? I don't think so.

oh, but since you pointed out earlier that we can't just lump all of nj together, i will point out that we can't do that with manhattan, either. manhattan neighborhoods can be different from eachother as night and day.

i only mentioned ub because you did. but yes, let's just agree there is something very wrong with many people on that board and not speak of them again. they scare me, too.

Lucille they are the same 10 people who post all the time. I say they scare me but in reality they make my mouth hang open. They are insane. We don't even know who they are = just like here. Anyway, I just got a reminder about a birthday party that I forgot about so I need to fight to fix my daughter's hair. I'll be back. I'm sending my husband with her. Isn't that great?

>i only mentioned ub because you did. but yes, let's just agree there is something very wrong with many people on that board and not speak of them again. they scare me, too.

Wow, sounds like an interesting site.

Hunt - go talk with the ladies - there are lots of men their too. Some of the moms find them odd and others just ask advice. Others are actually ladies posing as men or men posing as ladies. You'll never know since it's anonymous. Not even screen names like here. It's tough. I think you'd enjoy it

cccharley you may be mixing up your urbanbaby with youbemom. and come on, give huntersburg some credit. he's all over yb.

Didn't know that. I'm on both boards. How do I know it's Hunty over on YBM? I don't mix up my boards.

For the record, the burbs offer no real respite from the do diligence in monitoring your child's education. Keep in mind this is more critical for the developmentally accelerated and the developmentally delayed. The kid running at the center of the bell curve will clearly need less focused attention. If a child is average (in a good way), that's what public school is good at...producing average to low average. If there is a glimmer of hope at above average there is a good chance that your public school will nip that in the bud via low stimulation and lack of attention.

Recently I read that the best thing that could happen to your kid is 3 years in a row of excellent teachers. We had 6 years at PS158 and we scored 2 excellent teachers in all that time. We did better than most. The burbs might not be much better. Your kid is victimized by the 'luck of the draw'. Your kid draws the short straw and ends up with the bi-polar teacher who is going through a messy divorce or maybe the teacher that went skiing in "Colarada".
I'm not sure what the intellectual or emotional qualifications for teachers are anymore.
Where ever you send your kid, public, private, city, burbs, NO ONE cares about your baby BUT YOU!
No one cares about your kids education BUT YOU.
NO MATTER WHAT THEY TELL YOU.
Take total responsibility.
NO excuses, don't blame the school, don't blame the system.
Want you kid to have an A+ Keppie?
Every day counts. Sit with your kids, when they do homework, do your homework at the same time, same table. Kill your TV Monday through Thursday and don't turn it on over the weekend until all the Home work is done. Don't expect your kid to be able to make time decisions or keep agreements when it comes to TV or internet. It's like Kid-Crack, meter it out like Plutonium.
Everyone reads every day. Age determines the length of time. Don't put it off until bed time.
Reading skills need to develop endurance. It's like running a marathon.
It's the repetitive training that gets you over the finish line.

Best line I ever heard from a public school teacher, " Don't confuse me with facts, my mind is made up".

Falco: Agree on most points.

ok, so i slept on it, and these are the schools which we will consider when the time comes should we have a problem with our public school. the schools do vary somewhat in terms of academics, but that will resolve itself should things come to that. my kids will go to the one appropriate for their abilities.

newark academy
MoBeard
montclair kimberly
kent place
pingry
wilson
peck

all these schools are within a 15-20 min drive of eachother and the competition for addmission is just not anywhere near a new york private school, while the costs are obviously comparable. this list is by no means the extent of private options, but i limit myself to old proven establishments. there are many more younger schools even in the same towns as the ones on this list.

Wow. I've learned more from Falco then from all of the UB posts. Most of the people who use the UES publics say that they are happy with them. Have they deluded themselves? Falco, do you know if the teachers at 290 are any better? I've heard that the 158 principal is universally hated. How does she keep her job?

ok wait, wilson is in mountain lakes, not mountainside like i've believed for several months. too many mountains in jersey.

Glad I didn't move to the 158 zone after reading your posts falco. I will take your advice under consideration but I know that I won't turn the tv off during the week but it won't go on until homework is finished. I did my hw in front of the tv. I worked well with noise. Worked well for me but that doesn't mean it will work well for my dd. Time will tell and it isn't the best situation. We all have our different ways of raising our children and if they are doing well no need to judge. We can change what we do at home but we can't change who teaches our children - well some can raise a big fuss and make a change. Not my style unless there is a problem with a child in my kid's class.

Anyway, by the time you get to any school teachers can change. So picking the school on the basis of who is teaching today, may not be what is going on tomorrow or next year. Good ones can get pg and leave for good. Who knows?

My only advice is enjoy your child. Don't go too crazy. Help them along the way but let them make mistakes.

you can't predict the teachers, but you can look at a school's history and trust they will hire teachers they feel are up to par with the expectations of their parent and also ALUMNI community. i'm really just running with the private school thing here. sorry to state the obvious, but private schools rely heavily on financial support from their alumni community and alumni of privates are more likely to remain involved with their school in some way. privates make a very real effort to keep parents and alumni happy and hire accordingly.

on a separate note, something that is becoming more significant to me as my daughters grow and i pay more attention to older girls we see is MANNERS. granted, parents are supposed to teach their kids the basics here, but kids spend most of their time in school and with friends and we as a society just don't emphasize manners enough anymore. i suppose we could always move to the south where they beat that sh*t into you, but that seems drastic. superior academics or not, kids at traditional private schools are tought and expected to adhere to a certain standard of social behavior, which they usually come to expect of eachother as well.

I think you are both correct. CCCharley, what school are you zoned for?

there are always strict catholic schools. of course we're not catholic. wonder if nuns are still allowed to beat children. i'll tell you, if my kids behaved in class the way i see some kids behaving i would not only understand, but greatly appreciate some hardcore nun just smaking them with a ruler. all older generations say the damn kids today are no good, but kids today really are out of control.

>of course we're not catholic

What do you mean 'of course'?

what don't you understand

Hot I'm zoned for 40. I actually don't believe in heavy academics for K or lower kids. I find it somewhat gross. I think kids need to learn to be social and get along with others and then learn how to learn in that environment. I like the way they do it in Sweden and Norway. They don't even teach reading till 6 or 7 and with a long term view it makes no difference.

Lucille if anyone ever hit my child be it a teacher or a child I would go wild. I see no good in corporeal punishment. Your kid your choice but never hit my kid because you want to discipline her. I find it vile. I don't hit and my kid isn't out of control. Actually hitting can make children more out of control. I certainly doesn't work on all kids. We are way off topic here so I'm done with this part

"there are always strict catholic schools"

I went to Catholic school. It taught me a very important life lesson. I didn't want to be Catholic anymore.

i was just being stupid. teachers can't hit kids. although when other children hit mine i usually make en effort to not react and just tell them to hit back. i always say you have play nice and can never hit, but if someone hits you, you have to kick their ass. will let you know how that works out for us.

you know juiceman, you may not be a practicing catholic, but you're a nice family guy, on this board you seem very friendly and polite and basically a decent person. believe it or not, you're still technically a win for them. in today's world, at least.

'if my kids behaved in class the way i see some kids behaving i would not only understand, but greatly appreciate some hardcore nun just smacking them with a ruler.'

It would be a cold day in Hell before I would let anyone put their hand on my kid.

Charley, true that to each his own. Think hard on my TV advise (PS-everyone has to drink the Kool-Aid) which means nobody watches TV Mon-Thur, even you. The consequence is a week of withdrawal followed by amazing things. TV is a time suck. If you remove it from the equation your family has to fill the somewhat limited time with creativity games and family interaction. Zac, Cody, iCarly and the wizards of Waverly place have little to offer your child wrt intellectual development. Lego, reading artistic expression, music, and day dreaming are more valuable then the tube. Your kids are young but just you wait till they develop teeth (metaphor) then free time becomes the battle ground. No TV during the week removes one big repetitive battle. Homework in front of the TV might have worked for you but, the work load has changed since back in the day. Good habits start from the beginning and are easy to maintain via repetition. Bad habits are hard to break.

BTW, I had lots of friend that went to C-school and all turned out excellent.
As for education it's about the best bang for the buck.

"It would be a cold day in Hell before I would let anyone put their hand on my kid."

right, i was mostly joking about that. although outside of authority figures, i'm not 100% on the wisdom of instilling in children that you would never let them get a beating, as opposed to teaching them how to avoid asking for one and knowing how to handle themselves among their peers from different walks of life.

Public school can be good or bad, depending on the teacher. There are good and bad teachers and good and bad fits. A phenomenal teacher for my too-smart-for-his-own-good older son was a horrendous fit for my very average younger one. Personally, I attended "bad" public schools (among worst performing in county) and got an amazing education with zero parental involvement because I had a string of involved teachers and guidance counselors. When my kids get great teachers, I sit back and enjoy. When they get a dud, I get involved. P.S. TV is not evil. My older son knows more history than I've forgotten from watching the history channel. What's important are clear expectations (no TV until homework is completed) and enforcement.

Changing topic slightly - I'm trying to get a better understanding of overcrowding in the public schools and what it means. I live in BPC (zoned for the new green school ps 276). I have a 1 yr old and am considering real estate (e.g. whether to plan to be in BPC for the long term). From what I've heard people like the public schools in northern BPC and Tribeca - but they are overflowing (and as I'm sure people have heard there was the issue this year of kids in Tribeca being directed to a school in china town). It seems like right now getting a seat at 276 wouldn't be an issue, but given that my little one won't be entering kindergarden for another 4 years - does anyone have any knowledge of how it would work to get into the school at that point - assuming that overcrowding will be a growing problem (despite the planned peck slip school)? Any thoughts or information would be appreciated.

Also - any general thoughts on the quality of the BPC schools (including 276) would be appreciated as well.

4 years is a really long time in new york public school drama. you won't know anything concrete until a year out, and they still make changes as late as the summer before your kid starts. not to be a buzzkill, but it helps to either have nerves of steel or to wrap yourself in the resolve to stay in manhattan regardless of any obstacle. but do your own research on all your school options, and as i pointed out earler, if you start to have doubts, it's really better to use the internet as a sounding board. avoid engaging your real life friends in your inner conflict, because people just don't want to hear that you think something they've deemed good enough for their kids may not be acceptable for yours. keep in mind (1)the pluses and minuses of your own education, (2)your honest level of future involvement in your kids' schooling and most important (3) that you are a parent and your primary responsibility is to the little person you are raising, at least during their formative years, and depending on your expectations, that may come at the expense of a cool manhattan lifestyle for you. and don't let anyone bully you into something that, again, depending on your expectations, just doesn't feel right. good luck.

Falco I appreciate your advice but it just won't happen here. I don't want hw done in front of the tv but I'm not turning it off during the week unless I feel it's necessary. Different strokes. I don't want to get into an argument over this so this is the last comment on the issue for me. Just so you know the older she gets the less she is watching by choice.

Lucille I simply do not know how you can continuously comment on public schools or any school in NYC when your children are not even in school and you do not live here. You couldn't deal so you moved. DONE You appear to be attempting to justify your move and make sure that it is the right decision. For you it is. For me it would me horrid. If there were another huge exodus to the suburbs and to your town you would have school overcrowding issues. We had it growing up in LI and I was shipped to another town for 2 years. It sucked.

"Lucille I simply do not know how you can continuously comment on public schools or any school in NYC when your children are not even in school and you do not live here."

you don't understand how i can comment on the experience i DID have navigating the school water in new york, which proved too stressful and not worth it and i moved? do you have a list of issues on which you feel i should be allowed to comment? and is this list different from the list of issues on which i am allowed to comment continuously? i would greatly appreciate you sharing it.

"You appear to be attempting to justify your move and make sure that it is the right decision"

do i really strike you as a person who tends to doubt their decisions and seeks justification or approval?

"If there were another huge exodus to the suburbs and to your town you would have school overcrowding issues."

but.....the overcrowding in ny schools already exists and does not depend on a possible massive exodus of every child in new york to my particular town.

"We had it growing up in LI and I was shipped to another town for 2 years. It sucked."

i bet it did. and if parents are concerned about the future of ALL public schools, it makes that much more sense to slash their other expenses, such as housing, to make room in their budget for the possibility of paying private tuition.

I find that absurd. Nobody should have to go to private school. Paying 40k plus a year for private is ridiculous unless your sre very wealthy. I find it stupid to do this if you are not rich. Sacrificing on everything simply for a private education in lower school. Never. That is what college is for. I don't fins naviagint the system that difficult. I just applyed to my public and i wss done. Took some other tests but they are not necessAry. You just make sure you live in a good zone. Im sure you dont need my approval lucille nobody does. Everyone does as they want and nobody on a message board will change her opinion

you're right, we all do as we want. we make our decisions based on what's important to us, and that will always be different than what's important to other people. i think paying 1 million dollars for a depressing 2 bedroom box in a good zone, even if you ARE rich, is beyond absurd, stupid and crazy, it's like bizarro world where nothing makes sense. and yet people do it all the time. i don't understand it and i never will.

Public vs. Private
On this I consider myself an aficionado.
I sent my child to public school with much the same attitude.
From K through 5.
It was the variable performance, inconsistent learning pattern coupled with a system mired in dysfunction and self absorption that drove us to pursue private school. I could imagine a public school where the education is excellent the same way I can imagine unicorns and magic beans. It also depends on your cultural standards and expectations for your child (in addition to your child's actual abilities). Some folks put education first, for others it occupies another spot in the batting order. To each his own.
Let me see, how many people have said to me that they had too good an education? So far none. How many people have said to me that they had a public school education and they came out just fine. Many! but to be fair, they were aiming at 'just fine'.
It's all about expectation, aspiration, dedication and sacrifice.
For some it's about square feet and a view. That's important to me too, just not first.
You would not consider me wealthy by any NYC measure.

Isn't it more than possible to go to private school and come out mediocre or perhaps even f'ed up? Sub-par education and need for parental oversight exist in the pay for play environment as well.

of course it is Native. Many have a bad experience in private. There are no guarantees. I think education is very important but I do not think it trumps all other lifestyle choices. I'm talking about education to school specific education. Kids learn regardless of schools in other ways. Just by experience.

I am sorry Falco that I didn't specifically say I had a great education. I did. I did not think that that was necessary. I went to public school k-12 and then private uni. There is no such thing if you ask me of TOO good and education but how would you know? I don't think most of us are aiming for just fine but we are looking for a balance of good education and nice enough lifestyle. I don't think apartment size has anything to do with this Lucille. Many are happy living in smaller quarters. It just doesn't matter to many. If your family is comfortable then that is what is important. Some seem to need 4000 sf to be comfy. Me 1000 is fine. Sure 500 sf would be better but there is the law of diminishing returns and at some point it is just a waste of space and resources and just more to clean. You also need to include other aspects of your lifestyle. For me not driving is one of the most important issues and therefore we will always remain in the city. I never want to get behind a wheel of a car again unless it's an emergency.