Interesting note....

[conuly]

In my earlier post, when I mention "PS 70 in Queens", I'm not just giving more information for the sake of giving more information. In NYC, different public schools can share the same number, so long as they're in different boroughs. So it's important to state which PS 70 or whatever it is. The administrative code for PS 70 would be ??Q070, if it were in Staten Island it'd be 31R070 (R for Richmond), in Brooklyn it'd be ??K070 (for Kings County) and so on. As it happens, the only other 70 in the city is in the Bronx, so that'd be ??X070. (The question marks refer to the district number, which I only know for Staten Island.)

You go to elementary school and typically middle school in your district with a few exceptions: If you're in the gifted program, you can go to any gifted program school in your borough (and it's several districts per borough with the exception of Staten Island, we all have the same district and it overlaps into Brooklyn as well), and all the self-contained special ed classes are in the same district (district 75, even on Statne Island) instead of being regional.

You can get to go to a public school out of district if they have space available OR if your school is seriously low-performing (and the school you want has space available, they register children in their district first.

And sometimes two or more schools will share a building. This can work out well, or it can work out very very badly.

This all excludes discussion of charter schools (a whole freaking can of worms!) and the high school admissions process. (Not to mention non-public schools.) All of you living outside of NYC should thank your lucky stars (individually and by name) that you never have to deal with the NYC high school admissions process.

The other day, passing by Stuy towards this awesome playground, Ana went "Could I try that out and change if I don't like it?" and I said "Yes... maybe." The truth is that Stuy can be a crazy pressure cooker in the best of circumstances, and already I'm thinking maybe not the best choice for Ana. (Plus, honestly, the quality of the teaching isn't any better than at any other school. In some cases it can be worse, if the teachers expect the students to teach themselves everything.)

Comments

[crystalpyramid]

This is a silly nitpick, but the Bronx is ??X###. Four years ago I taught at 10X434. When I left there were five schools sharing that building, which used to be Roosevelt High School.

Manhattan is M. And this map will show you all the districts — it seems really weird to me that Staten Island is the only borough that only has one.

[conuly]

Ah, thanks. I'll edit to fix that. I assumed it was B because their buses are Bx, aren't they?

I know Manhattan is M, I didn't feel the need to say it because, well, it's obvious.

[crystalpyramid]

But Brooklyn's buses are just plain B. I wouldn't have guessed that Brooklyn's schools were K — that was news to me.

Yeah, I guess it is in fact obvious. Sorry for being anal!

Interesting--

[marveen.livejournal.com]

--your schools don't have names?

I went to Tenino Elementary, graduated from Tumwater High. Granted, those are easy: one school in the town, name it after the town.

My ex-husband graduated from W.F. West High--named after a community founder. My current husband graduated from Charter Oak High.

Re: Interesting--

[conuly]

They do, but in elementary school (and almost always in middle school) the numbers take precedence and that's how people refer to the school.

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered: what are school buildings like in New York?

I'm used to south-western michigan where schools are generally built on a plot of land outside the city so that they can be single story structures made of corridors lined with class rooms stretching in every direction, generally with a gymnasium / cafeteria / office area functioning as a hub surrounding this is usually a parking lot (small for elementary schools and middle schools, but much larger for high schools) and other land dedicated to general purpose / sports related activities.

I've always had trouble imagining what changes would need to be necessary to fit the equivalent in a city such as New York.

[conuly]

It varies depending on how (and when) they are built.

If they're purpose-built, you'll expect to see red brick (often inexplicably painted maroon) or, for somewhat newer buildings, beige tiles. These are far from the only options, but they're the more common ones.

Three to five stories is typical, and they'll USUALLY have a schoolyard - but if they don't, elementary schools can apply to close off their street for a few hours during the day so kids can play there. Sports fields are less big and prominent than they are, I'm told, outside of the city, though, and it's not uncommon for schools to be without them entirely.

The cafeteria, gym, and auditorium (and even in newer elementary schools I think it's typical to see all three) will be apart from the offices, often in the basement. The offices will be the first rooms as you enter the main building.

Schools MAY have parking lots - but not for the students or their parents. It's assumed that if you live that far away, you have a MetroCard, usually a free, city-issued one. (Which, for some inane reason, is half-fare or full-fare depending on distance-from-school instead of on income.)

However, not all schools are purpose-built! It's not uncommon (certainly not in Manhattan!) to see a school taking up the first few floors of an office-building, or sharing space with another school.

[conuly]

Oh, also, lockers?

Yeah, some schools have them, some don't - but if they DO have them they're quite often in classrooms instead of in halls, and you may not be allowed to keep anything in your locker anyway.

Instead, people get used to trucking their stuff with them wherever they go.

Elementary classrooms have hooks, cubbies, or (and this is what we had growing up) small coatrooms that take up a full wall and that 6 or 8 kids at once can go into to get out their coats.