NYC School Help
http://nycschoolhelp.com
Joyce Szuflita
718 781-1928
Joyce Szuflita is NYC School Help. Joyce is a 28 year Brooklyn resident and the mom of teenage twins who has spent years talking to educators, combing the internet, visiting schools and being generally obsessed with all aspects of Public and Private schooling in Brooklyn and NYC. She consults privately with families who want to navigate the school search. She is seen in the NY Times, Time Out NY Kids, NY Family – Brooklyn. She blogs at www.mysidewalkchalk.blogspot.com and is one of this blog’s Experts. You can read all her articles here.

Joyce Szuflita of NYC School Help has been answering A Child Grows readers’ questions about school periodically. Besides keeping up with her own blog, http://mysidewalkchalk.blogspot.com/, where she has been known to release valuable DOE information first, she works with parents’ groups, does individual consults and runs support groups and workshops. We asked Joyce to come and do a private consult with my husband (Papa Tree) and me. We talked about the public schools we were zoned for, other schools that we could apply to through a variance and when to tour and apply. Joyce brought data sheets on those public schools she thought we should consider (including our zoned school) so that we could compare each one’s academic records, extracurricular activities and communities. She also told us about unzoned and charter schools, gifted and talented programs, citywide programs, elementary schools and a general discussion about high schools. She went through private schools for 2’s and up. She gave us reams of data on each one: charts, maps with circled locations, printouts on each school, class times and tuition, admissions information, activities, summer programs and mission. It was truly incredible- and not overwhelming (really!). At the end of the session, we didn’t have one unanswered question. As you can tell, I think Joyce is an incredibly valuable resource in Brooklyn. Not only does she have a newsletter that tells readers when open houses, tours and deadlines are taking place, but also informs you if any new schools have opened and DOE updates. You can sign up for her newsletter here: http://nycschoolhelp.com/contactus.aspx. She is also running workshops about middle and high school. I would encourage you to check out her blog or join her newsletter if you want to be aware of the DOE’s changing policies and gain general knowledge about the whole dizzying process of applying for school.
-Karen

I just wanted to say thank you, thank you, and THANK YOU again for holding last night’s meeting. It was truly informative. My friend was totally jealous that I was going. I think the best thing about the talk was how encouraging you were—it made me feel like this is very do-able and maybe we can navigate through the public school system after all.
-Laine

I loved listening to Joyce explain the various schools, differences between them, private vs public- I really do feel like I got a lot out of it. I so enjoyed the whole evening. What I like about her is you can tell that she really knows her stuff- she’s been through it with her now teenage daughters and gives great, thoughtful advice to help you make the right decision. I also loved how she really encourages you to ultimately follow your instinct, something a lot of new parents can really use when trying to make these tough decisions about what is right for them.
-Lilly

I had heard the horror stories and was very overwhelmed by the whole preschool thing. We simply were not able to spend hours researching schools and what to ask them. Joyce made it simple and clear for us with an understanding of the schools and a practical down to earth approach. She made it feel like a positive and manageable experience vs. a dreaded competitive experience. Also, my husband is cynical about hiring consultants and he thought it was awesome.
-Sarah