Joyce Szuflita, of NYC School Help, is our School Expert, and always has the scoop on what’s going on with schools. She had some great information for us today:
This is a crazy registration season as you may have noticed.
It has come to my attention that the process is beginning to run off the rails a little bit.
- Some schools are setting early registration deadlines.
- It seems that some very specific schools are blocking wait-list applicants from families zoned for other very specific schools (possibly due to agreements not to poach from one another)
- Some schools are showing such large numbers of in zone families that they are placing them on wait-lists
- There is an unconfirmed rumor that a school has told a wait-listed family that if they are registered at another specific school that they will be removed from the wait-list
What to do?
First, don’t panic.
- When you get the call from a wait-listed program, confirm the registration deadline.
- Call your other wait-listed schools and ask if you can remain on their wait-list even if you have registered elsewhere (this has been the case in the past but it is always good to confirm).
- If you are wait-listed to your zoned school check out insideschools report
To find out more about what happened in District 15 last year check out Gothamschools
****One more thing about Prek
The Children’s School is listed in the PreK Directory as having seats available. They do have seats but they ARE NOT part of the DOE’s lottery process. You need to have registered with them to be in their lottery which is a separate from the DOE’s process.
If you list them on the DOE’s application you will be wasting a spot.
**The reason that I am not listing the specific schools involved is because much of this is still rumor and unconfirmed. The zoned schools that I have heard are currently wait-listing zoned families are PS 39 and PS 107 in Park Slope. Most if not all of those families may receive seats before the spring is over. A registration should not hamper a Charter, Unzoned, or G&T placement. The take away is: double check your wait-list status with the schools that you are interested in.
The DOE’s official calendar
March 21-March 25: Families notified about assignment offers
March 28-April 15: Pre-registration at schools
Joyce Szuflita
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Joyce Szuflita, NYC School Help, is a 28 year Brooklyn resident and the mom of teenage twins who has spent years interviewing educators, touring schools, combing the internet 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 can be seen in the NY Times, Time Out NY Kids, NY Family – Brooklyn, achildgrowsinbrooklyn.com and nycprivateschoolsblog.com