But btw- despite his "perfect" ERB scores and what I know was a charming interview/playdate (he does really well one-on-one with adults), he got turned down by Friends. Supposedly a glut of siblings and Quakers applied this year leaving only a few spots to the rest of us- and why not one of those spots? Even though the admissions people gave us a bs "lots of great kids for not enough spots" line, I'm going to assume it's because we asked for financial aid. Well- #### us.
Who doesn't need financial aid at Friends? My wife went there k-12, we looked a couple years ago and tuition was more than her out of state college tuition at UVA.
Kindergarten across the board here in NYC is closing in on 40k/year really fast.Dammit, I'm keeping every flapping appendage I've got crossed that he get's a good lottery number and gets into Anderson or NEST.
Any of you guys know anything about the two new city-wide G&T schools- one in Bensonhurst and one in... I think it's Astoria.
With a 6 month old on the UWS, I've been follwoing your "adventures" and wondering what I'm going to have to end up doing. Of course we got zoned out of PS87 into the new school so that fallback option is gone now. We've had other friends go through it and the entire process seems like a huge cluster. Even the high school placement is a huge mess.
And closing in on 40K/year is generous...one of the guys I work with has twins in kindergarten at Riverdale and says all in its closer to 60K. Have to pay for the bus and then they hit you up for donations which aren't mandatory, but are. Entire private school thing sounds like one huge racket at this point.
Wait- 60k per kid? What kind of fancy bus do they have up there to add the extra 20k? But yeah- the "donations"... christmas present for teachers, spring fundraiser tickets, etc, etc- but for us it's only an extra couple grand. "only".I'm sure it's always been this way and I'm only aware of it in the last 10 years or so since starting a family, but... between lack of housing and schooling for the middle-class here in Manhattan, it appears to be heading to an all poor or rich folk city. Not sure what the rest of us are supposed to do.
Toured Anderson and NEST yesterday- the anxiety and stress flowing from the 100s of parents at each tour was almost tangible- a purple cloud of stink and anquish, with lightening bolts of over-involvement shooting out at anybody and antying that was going to get in their way (including me and our 9mo old who chose our Anderson tour to start singing some Zeppelin). So it sounds like about 1000 kids have gotten the coveted 99. 34 spots at Anderson, about 85 at NEST. ####.
We find out his placement tomorrow.I hate how ####### stressed out I am about this.
We're hoping that worse case scenario is that he goes to his local G&T school (right under the Williamsburgh bridge on Delancey St). Even though it's only to 5th grade and doesn't have the rep of the city-wide schools, he'd at least be in a class full of kids who are also good test takers. Note I didn't say "smart"- these are 4 year olds who can sit still for 45 minutes, engage an adult one-on-one well, and know a modicum of
stuff. A room full of those kids seems better than what we saw in the local gen-ed schools.
Oh- in a moment of madness/panic, we ranked that Brooklyn school 3rd...
ahead of our local school.

It's over an hour commute
each way and despite looking like a wonderful school, basically impossible for us. wtf.
eta: we are accepting any and all good vibes on this. TIA
eta 2- and that way, I can blame you guys if we get ####ed.