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New to New York! Good Schools required!
muyong January 11, 2011
Hi,
I am also moving to NYC from Beijing, China. I am also looking for elementary schools for my 9 years old daughter, so maybe we can share our experience.
I browsed in this web for some high rating schools. And I use google map to take a look at their stree views. It's a little bit disappointed that the schools in NYC are not very spacious like schools here in Beijing. They don't even have a beautiful play ground for the children. I suspect she will be disappointed too. Some friends recommend me to live in New Jersey, like Hoboken, Union City or North Bergen. But there're not many choices and the rating for the schools are not as good as schools in NYC.
Anyway, I will go to NYC around end of Jan first to visit the schools and talk with people there. I belive I will have much more information at that time.
Robin64947
aasimps February 6, 2011
Dear parents searching for schools,
I moved here almost seven years ago. At the time I had only one school-age child, a 1st grader. We were moving to the Columbia University area so we researched private and public schools. We decided private was too expensive so we decided on public. The school in the neighborhood, PS 165, had a gifted and talented program but you had to test in and since we moved in after the school year started we were told we would have to wait until the following year. My daughter has since graduated and is at one of the top middle schools (MS 54 Delta Honors) in the district. She did very well at the school and so are her brothers, one is in the last gifted and talented class and the other is in the regular class. The school decided to phase out the program but our school is being considered again to have the program. The ratings for 165 are not high but there are several reasons that help to explain that (e.g. lots of English Language Learners, kids with special needs, and sadly parents who for one reason or other don't make the time to help their kids). Despite the overall low performance of students on tests, the remainder of students who end up doing very well are doing so because they have involved parents. We have great teachers and now a great new principal. We just need more parents who understand the value of getting an education to come to our school to help encourage other parents to do the same.
I'm not sure what neighborhoods you are looking at but if you move into the Columbia University area, come and tour PS 165. This school is already great because of the new administration, dedicated teachers, and very small but involved group of parents, it can only get better with the help of more motivated and supportive parents.65941
Arbed325 February 17, 2011
I don't know if this is too late for your consideration. While we live in NYC (NW Bronx - my kids go to Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy) my son (age 15) plays basketball with a team from New Rochelle High School, and the parents and kids LOVE IT! These parents are very discerning and have very high standards, and from what they tell me New Rochelle High has a great population of kids and a great principal. I believe that all schools in the district feed into this high school, and you might want to do a little more investigation to find which are the best elementary feeder schools for this HS. For many years, New Rochelle High was a GREAT school, and then for several decades it was not. I'm hearing from the parents every week how great the school has become, and the kids are moving on to TOP colleges. Good luck! I hope this helps.66431
Jaime2 February 24, 2011
Hi, I will move to NY (Manhattan, probably district 2 or 4, between Park Av and 96th), and I have a 5 year old son. I am looking for public schools in the zone that are good, any recommendations?
I also have another problem: as I plan to move on july this year, I dont know if I will be on time to register my kid before school starts. Can I register if I already have the proof of residence although I am not in NY yet? Could a friend of mine that lives in NY do the registration for me?
Thanks.66793
