2021 Kindergarten: Applying in a vacuum, Vol. 2

By Joyce Szuflita
We have a few dates now. Surprisingly, the DoE is sticking to their regular K timeline. The deadline for your MY SCHOOLS application is Jan. 19. This is right in line with the timing they do every year. Here are some other insights that you are probably wondering about. Oh yes, and this application in mid January IS NOT the Prek application. That always happens way later, likely in mid to late March! That is why you don’t see any information about it.

We still don’t have any information about Gifted and Talented testing. Many people have conjectured that this means that G&T will be done away with. Not necessarily. They are likely just trying to figure out how to test the four year olds under Covid. If the City does significantly change the program, it wouldn’t be a disaster seeing as testing four year olds is idiotic and the programs in their current form are troubled and not in any way scientific. In any case, the G&T application has NOTHING to do with the regular application that you are filling out now. Forget about it for now. You have other things to consider.

You can list up to 12 programs on your application. You don’t need to list 12. They could include programs like: your zoned school, neighboring schools that you like, schools in other districts or boroughs, Dual Language programs, “Un-Zoned” schools (AKA “Schools of Choice”).
They will not be G&T programs or Charter Schools. Essentially, you apply to charter schools individually through their websites. They do their lotteries around April 1, so you have months to register for those lotteries.

You will rank programs in TRUE PREFERENCE ORDER. You are being placed by a computer algorithm commonly referred to as “The Medical School Match”. The guys that devised this matching process won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2012. The reason that they won the big money at Stockholm is that they devised a way for you to rank programs in true preference order without being disadvantaged or advantaged. It is your one opportunity to tell the DoE what you like without trying to strategize. THERE IS NO STRATEGY. Rank in preference order. THE END.

Do you HAVE to rank your zoned school? No, but you still may get that placement because it is the school for which you have the highest priority.
Do they have to give me a school from my list? No, but you will get a placement somewhere (most likely at your zoned school).
Do we get a higher priority for a school that is close to us that is not our zoned school? No. Anyone outside of zone but within the District is treated the same. Anyone outside of zone and the district but within the borough will be treated the same.
Is it possible that we will NOT get a placement at our zoned school? Yes, if the school is overcapacity with zoned students. There is no guarantee of placement in your zone, but it is super rare (only about 20 schools citywide last year). This year with the possible moderate exodus from the city, it is likely that those numbers will be even better.