NYC public schools -- how does zoning work? (middle-class, fit in)

[bhwhite]

I used to live in NYC, pre-kids, and never paid a lick of attention to how the public schools work. Now, two elementary-school kids later, I live in London but we are moving to NYC in a few weeks. (Short notice, yes, but that's a different story.)

It is my rough understanding that if we move into a particular zone, the kids will go to elementary school in that zone. Is that correct? I keep reading about how kids tried to get into PS Whatever but couldn't do so; does that mean they were out of the zone?

I punched in (using NYC Department of Education Maps) the address of an apartment in Tribeca which we are looking at it says that address's zoned elementary schools are PS 234 and PS 397. Does that mean that even if we move in mid-year (starting school in January) these kids will end up at one of those two schools? PS 379 is newer but seems good and PS 234 is high ranked. If I want to try to get them into PS 234, what's the procedure? Do I talk to the school or is this a DOE job?

Many thanks.

[citylove101]

Just for the mechanics of how enrollment of a new student works check out the site of insideschools, which is a non-profit independent group that evaluates all NYC public schools and offers lots of helpful info for new families:

New to NYC schools

But in general I will tell you that as far as elementary schools are concerned here, demographics are destiny. Since most kids attend their local neighborhood school, if the neighborhood is middle-class or affluent, the school will tend to have fewer discipline problems, more parental involvement, better teachers, a greater ability to raise funds, and stronger academics than schools in poor districts. And Tribeca is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in NYC. So bottom line is I wouldn't worry about either school or press to get into 234. Certain schools always do have "buzz" around them and 234 is one of those. However its an open question about whether its education would be markedly superior to the Spruce Street School, given that both of them draw from the same demographic.

[bhwhite]

Thanks for the reply. I've spent some time on insideschools.org, it is a great resource.

It is tricky for me to evaluate how the public schools (even the very good ones) stack up in terms of academics. The reading/literacy portions of the public school curriculum are behind where the same-age UK children are. And as someone who makes his living doing maths, the numeracy/math curriculum particularly irks me. TERC is a disaster.

Do NYC folks observe that the private schools are significantly better at academics than the public schools? Both the content of the curriculum and the pace? To me, the worst part about public schools seems to be that these broad, overarching decisions -- like curricula -- are imposed by the home office, so to speak. This mutes the effects of the good teachers and good parent/student cohorts that the better public schools are reputed to have.

[Kefir King]

bhwhite,


I think the HONEST answer is that nobody knows.