How to Get a Spot in Pre-K for This Year!

"Nabbing a spot in, even a half-day pre-k program, means you've got a spot for K. So if you don't live in the zone or district for a good school, but can grab one of these pre-K spots, you are in for elementary."

Can you clarify this? I thought the policy was that since there are fewer pre-K spots than K, that wherever you got into for pre-K did NOT guarantee you a spot at that school for K, even if it's your own zoned school, and you have to apply all over again the following year.

I am not an authority and all I can tell you is my experience and what I have read and heard as a very involved public school parent for 6 years, but the law is that your zoned school MUST give you a spot. The only time they can reject you is if they are so over-crowded that they have reached the legal limits of students the school can hold.

I have never heard of a public elementary school not admitting their pre-K students into the K, even if they don't live in the zone. Once you are in, you are in and so are your siblings. In fact, even for Middle School, if you have gone to a District 2 elementary school, you can apply to District 2 Middle Schools, whether you live in District 2 or not. This may not be the "official" policy,, but this is the policy that is followed (although I have heard that the DOE would love to change this, but they are afraid of the parent backlash if they did. )

Smarter Toddler Nursery and Preschool just opened a location near Columbus Circle (October 2008) and last I checked they had spots. Good Luck.

Is there a site I can check to know which are the best schools in NYC? I would like to know if you were going to apply which schools should I consider.

I heard they are not that great, but I also heard they have improved a lot in recent years. Is this true? or should I definitely pay for private education while living in Manhattan?

Tx

MH, Check InsideSchools.org for great information about NYC public schools.

I live on the upper east side and the closest I could get a spot for pre-k was over in the west 120's deep in harlem, and a very dangerous area when we went to investigate. I was not impressed at all with the care or the curriculum in any of the public pre-k's. I know times are tough, but I prefer to keep my child in an educationally nurturing environment with low student-teacher ratio. My 4 year old is at Building Blocks Playgroup
( www.buildingblocksplaygroup.com ) and reads and writes, as well as being constantly exposed to early math, art, music, and movement classes during the week. He would lose alot of what he has learned if stuck in the public school environment, even public kindergarten doesn't prepare children for any kind of academics from what I've observed. The future looks far too challenging to give my child anything but the best start in life at this point, I've decided to continue with his private care and education rather than save money by short changing his potential.

Mommy, just stumbled upon your post, and I don't believe your advice is correct about getting a K spot after havinga pre-K spot. P.S. 40 specifically told me (a district 1 parent) that since P.S. 40 is overcrowded as it is and they can't admit all District 2 parents who want to attend that I would NOT get a K spot if I sent my child to their pre-K.

Think this probably was made clear by the DoE after your post, but didn't see any corrections.

You are correct. This post was written at the beginning of the academic year and the DOE changed their policy later in the year. I posted about that in a subsequent article. Thank you for bringing it up to anybody who should find this post at this time.