The sudden charm of Public Schools..
NYT's has an article on the popularity of public schools and parents moving to the school district that has the best public schools.
FOR some young families who bought during the housing boom, having it all meant an affordable brood-sized apartment in possession of a good public school zone. But other parents in pursuit of real estate never even thought about schools. They assumed they would send their children to private school, often because they too had followed that route.
That was before the economic crisis. Now, as many would-be private school parents scramble for a good public school, there is a despairing recognition that in this respect, geography is destiny: With odds of being accepted into a popular school in another zone slimmer than ever, they either live in a neighborhood with a decent elementary or they don’t.
Renters and first-time buyers are in the best position to light out for better school zones with their young offspring. Meanwhile, landlocked owners — unable or unwilling to sell in a down market or to spend around $33,000 a year to send their child to private school — are panicking.
Trapped by their real estate, these parents are swallowing a bitter pill: had they sold their apartments a year ago, their profits might have financed an entire private school education.
Some parents are considering renting an apartment in a desirable zone — at least for the time it takes to prove residency. And some otherwise law-abiding parents plan to flout the system by establishing a fake residency in their school zone of choice.
“I can tell you I hear it all the time on the playground — whether you’re moving or ‘moving,’ ” said Claudia Knafo, 47, a concert pianist and music professor who lives with her husband, Alexander Yagupsky, 44, and 4-year-old son, Joshua, on West 110th Street and Riverside Drive.
She says her family’s situation is common in her neighborhood.
“We bought our apartment in 2004,” she said, “and like most new parents we never even thought about the public school zoning issues. We just assumed our son would go to private school.”
But when it came time to apply last fall, she and her husband, a music teacher, felt they could no longer commit to the expense because of the change in the economic climate. They applied to three private schools asking for financial aid, even though they were advised by other parents that this would undermine their son’s chances. He was turned down by one and put on the waiting list at the others.
“At that point,” Ms. Knafo said, “we decided with the economy being what it is, we had to adjust our heads and think about public school.”
There is no way of knowing just how many would-be or current private school parents are turning to the public schools. But there is no question that the city’s public kindergartens are experiencing a groundswell of interest.
Late last month, the Department of Education said that several popular schools — Public Schools 6, 59 and 290 on the Upper East Side, and P.S. 87 on the Upper West Side — were putting children from their own zones on waiting lists because of a surfeit of applications. Many of the wait-listed children may be admitted eventually, as a change in the application process this year requires declarations of interest by parents before they hear from private schools or gifted and talent programs at public schools.
“I would say I’ve given out about a third more applications,” said Michele Farinet, the parent coordinator at P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village, another sought-after school. While P.S. 41 and its sister school, P.S. 3, have traditionally been able to take all zoned kids, Ms. Farinet is less sure about this year: “I never want to be negative about it. We’re doing the best we can to accommodate all the families.”
Ms. Farinet said that private school parents had been calling about transferring their children to P.S. 41 this fall; the number of such calls is usually zero.
Margaret Raphaelson, the parent coordinator at the highly regarded P.S. 321 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, said she, too, had received several of these calls.
Meanwhile, parents are beating the pavement online.
FOR some young families who bought during the housing boom, having it all meant an affordable brood-sized apartment in possession of a good public school zone. But other parents in pursuit of real estate never even thought about schools. They assumed they would send their children to private school, often because they too had followed that route.
That was before the economic crisis. Now, as many would-be private school parents scramble for a good public school, there is a despairing recognition that in this respect, geography is destiny: With odds of being accepted into a popular school in another zone slimmer than ever, they either live in a neighborhood with a decent elementary or they don’t.
Renters and first-time buyers are in the best position to light out for better school zones with their young offspring. Meanwhile, landlocked owners — unable or unwilling to sell in a down market or to spend around $33,000 a year to send their child to private school — are panicking.
Trapped by their real estate, these parents are swallowing a bitter pill: had they sold their apartments a year ago, their profits might have financed an entire private school education.
Some parents are considering renting an apartment in a desirable zone — at least for the time it takes to prove residency. And some otherwise law-abiding parents plan to flout the system by establishing a fake residency in their school zone of choice.
“I can tell you I hear it all the time on the playground — whether you’re moving or ‘moving,’ ” said Claudia Knafo, 47, a concert pianist and music professor who lives with her husband, Alexander Yagupsky, 44, and 4-year-old son, Joshua, on West 110th Street and Riverside Drive.
She says her family’s situation is common in her neighborhood.
“We bought our apartment in 2004,” she said, “and like most new parents we never even thought about the public school zoning issues. We just assumed our son would go to private school.”
But when it came time to apply last fall, she and her husband, a music teacher, felt they could no longer commit to the expense because of the change in the economic climate. They applied to three private schools asking for financial aid, even though they were advised by other parents that this would undermine their son’s chances. He was turned down by one and put on the waiting list at the others.
“At that point,” Ms. Knafo said, “we decided with the economy being what it is, we had to adjust our heads and think about public school.”
There is no way of knowing just how many would-be or current private school parents are turning to the public schools. But there is no question that the city’s public kindergartens are experiencing a groundswell of interest.
Late last month, the Department of Education said that several popular schools — Public Schools 6, 59 and 290 on the Upper East Side, and P.S. 87 on the Upper West Side — were putting children from their own zones on waiting lists because of a surfeit of applications. Many of the wait-listed children may be admitted eventually, as a change in the application process this year requires declarations of interest by parents before they hear from private schools or gifted and talent programs at public schools.
“I would say I’ve given out about a third more applications,” said Michele Farinet, the parent coordinator at P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village, another sought-after school. While P.S. 41 and its sister school, P.S. 3, have traditionally been able to take all zoned kids, Ms. Farinet is less sure about this year: “I never want to be negative about it. We’re doing the best we can to accommodate all the families.”
Ms. Farinet said that private school parents had been calling about transferring their children to P.S. 41 this fall; the number of such calls is usually zero.
Margaret Raphaelson, the parent coordinator at the highly regarded P.S. 321 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, said she, too, had received several of these calls.
Meanwhile, parents are beating the pavement online.
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