Pre-School & Waiting Lists

One of the conversations my mother and I were having recently were the discussions about pre-schools in our area.  Jayden is going to be 2 in November and although it may seem like it is way too soon to be looking, I've wondered about the challenges of getting him into a good school.  Unfortunately, his birthday is in November so he will most likely miss an entire year of school and he will have to begin when he's closer to 4.  So here's my dilemma, the school district I live in has the worst public schools.  There is only one really great school and funny enough, my bestfriend's mother created the school.  I don't know if she still has any pull there and perhaps can recommend Jayden.  But if he doesn't get into that school the other zone school is horrific.  I don't know if I would be able to afford Private school in a few years or not.  So here's my question, do you think it's too soon to put him on a waiting list for some good schools now?  When is the appropriate time to start looking around?  

[mamaofonetrying42]

Ethan birthday is also in November, he will be 4. Last year we put him in a part time preschool at our park dist. This year he will be going full time to preschool here at our local school district. He will have almost 3years of preschool before he gets into K. I think the best thing for you to do is just call the school that you are interested in and i am sure they will give you any and all infor. that you need. I mean if there is a long waiting list, you can find out the earlist to get on it!

[sweetangel7]

I think most schools do a lottery rather than a witing lisdt so putting him in now would not be helpful HOWEVER IF YOU CALL THE SCHOOL AND FIND OUT THEY DO A TRADITIONAL WAITING LIST THEN BY ALL MEANS, PUT HIM ON.

ooops!  sorry about the caps...I have baby in one arm, typing with the other!

Just curious why you think the schools are horrible?  What area in NY are you in?  I was under the impression NY had some high achieving public schools...

[mami1323]

I'm getting my information from other parents in my building.  I live on the upper east side of Manhattan.  I'm not exactly sure what makes them horrible but I do know the one that I want to get him into is a great school.  New York's schools are not that great.  There are some really great ones but we don't live in that neighborhood.

[sweetangel7]

http://    www.    greatschools    .net/modperl/go/NY

Check out this site and see if you can get any info.  As a teacher it saddens me to hear people think any school is horrible yet I am aware that there are underachieving schools in the country.  

[Me2mommy2b]

mami, I don't know why but I assumed that upper east side had great schools.  I'd definitely find out from the schools you're interested in about how soon you can put Jayden on their waiting lists.  It's good that you're planning ahead already :)

[mami1323]

So did I ladies but apparently not all are good.  I would love for him to go to the school I went to, they work on a sliding scale.