NYC public schools do a gentle intro to full day pre-k

[conuly]

The first day is half a day with only half the class and your designated adult. The second day is half a day with the same half class. The third day is the first day the whole class is together for the whole day, no adults.

This is great for the kid who has never been to school, preschool, or daycare.

For the working family whose kid has been in preschool or daycare for years, it's all a little superfluous.

J's mother just started a new job this week. She could hardly start work Wednesday and then immediately take the next two days off, could she? This is how I ended up sitting with J in pre-k today.

When I did this for Eva, lo these many years ago, there was a lot of nattering on about how pre-k isn't about play anymore. Yuck. (That was the principal. The teachers were more practical.) This teacher really emphasized how the kids get to play and how it's so important. It's really not my business, but I'm definitely relieved to hear that!

Anyway, walking home I met with a friend who used to go to school with me. I told her about Eva's middle school issues, and she said "Over my dead body would my kids attend that school" (the one we're zoned for, I mean). I'm always relieved to know it's not me. That school is just toxic.

Comments

[smile_n_cuddle]

Aww, that's a sweet way to start school... albeit not necessarily convenient for everyone. I'm sorry about the middle school :( How frustrating.

[konsectatrix]

Yeah, the principal for Eva's pre-k school is what happens when internalized Calvinism smacks right up against the fact that play is in itself a learning mechanism and healthy humans NEED that. ARGH.

That whole 'soft start' thing is great. I love it.

[conuly]

I loathed that principal. I never knew you could dislike school administration until I met her! Among her other faults, this is a woman who loves to hear herself talk.

My mom and my sister scoffed when I brought a book to Ana's 5th grade graduation, but I knew. She just talked and talked and talked and talked!

[alasse_irena]

I was once a child who really deeply hated any change. I had spent a year at pre-school, a year in kindergarten, and still was Disturbed and Upset when I got thrown into primary school. Certainly the gentle start is inconvenient for a working family, but I don't think it's superfluous. Changes that seem trivial to adults can be a Huge Deal to a child, and easing them in seems like a good move.

(For what it's worth, my first week of prep coincided with a vicious heatwave where it was over 40C every day, and they sent us home at lunchtime even though this wasn't planned, because the school was not equipped to deal with that kind of heat. This suited little me pretty well.)

[novel_machinist]

Play is the best way for children to learn! Wow, that school must be something else.

[conuly]

The school was fine. Couldn't stand the administration, though.

[fred_mouse]

Only two half days? Much better than here, where it was either a week or two weeks for pre-primary (the first compulsory year) for my kids. And when I started grade one, in 1978, I was the only kid doing full days for at least a week, because my mother was a single parent and a teacher, so the school just kept me.

[conuly]

Half days for a whole week in first grade! That's something I've never heard of.

[fred_mouse]

At that point, first grade was the first compulsory year. Since then, the starting age has been moved and the compulsory grade has moved, so on average kids are 6 months older in the same named year, but six months younger at the start of compulsory schooling.

[kyrielle]

And I thought our local school's start to kindergarten was frustrating! (They do a half-class start, half the class comes in for a full day on Day One, the other half goes in on Day Two while the first half has it off, and then everybody goes on Day Three. Alphabetically, so we go on Day One and get the gap day....)

It's useful for getting them used to the space and format, and I can see it being hugely useful for children who haven't been in any setting but the home to that point, but...meh.

[mme-n-b.livejournal.com]

Besides moving and paying for private school, how do you manage to send your kid to a school you aren't zoned for? I'm aware of multiple illegal ways, of course, but somehow you don't seem quite like the type.

[conuly]

1. You send them to a non-zoned school or to a non-zoned program at a school that also has a zoned program. This is the option we're looking at. While all middle school students have a zoned options, most schools have at least one non-zoned program. Admission to those programs may be determined by lottery or by grades.

1b. And very few high school students have a zoned option nowadays.

2. You contact the DoE and get a transfer on the basis of some hardship.

3. You contact the principal of your desired school and ask if they have a seat. If they do, they can wrangle an exemption for you - they're obligated to enroll zoned students first, but they have some discretion if they don't fill all seats.

4. If it's an elementary school, you enroll your eldest and then once you move your younger children still get sibling priority. Plus, when it comes time for middle school, it's possible that your children have the option of being zoned with their school, not with their home address - especially if the school runs k-8.

[mme-n-b.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't even know there were non-zoned schools :( Around here even high schools are assigned by neighborhood.