Still Looking For the Right Public School For K, 1 or 5?

It's craaaazy right now y'all. For new parents, finding a decent school that feels right is a riddle wrapped in an onion wrapped in a DOE rabbit hole. But somehow, it almost always manages to happen. I know literally dozens of families that have made it work. They're at PS295 or PS 8,9 or 10 or PS705 or Brooklyn New School or Arts and Letters or Community Roots or Compass or PS261 or the school both my girls are at PS38, or 33 or 39 or 118 or Children's School or a ton of others. This idea that public schools in NYC suck is old news. It's simply not so. I mean, it's no Dalton or St. Anns or Packer...those schools seem to have money to burn, though there are plusses and minuses to any school. But what you get in return for your not-money is the knowledge that you're part of a great ongoing experiment in publicly funded education, and that you're part of the melting pot that is NYC. It's fun. There's lots for parents to do, lots of advocacy, lots of cultural nuances, lots of super committed teachers and adorable children. I'm not kidding. I've been super involved and I gotta say there's nothing more humbling and ennobling than being part of the solution, in ways small & large.

So here's some good advice for today. There are still some spots in Kindergarten, First Grade and Fifth Grade at local District 17 trendsetter PS770. Call 718-221-5837 and ask for Principal Jessica Saratovsky. I know lots of parents who have found a warm and loving home at this relatively new school, called The New American Academy, headed by the innovative Shimon Waronker. Here's a post I did on the school: The Q's School Tool PS770.

Take a deep breath. It'll be okay. I promise.