Tuesday, June 3

Middle School Holding Pattern


Middle-school parents, sit tight. The DOE says what they said yesterday: Everyone should have letters by June 9th, which seems an eon away when you're waiting by the mailbox.

Am trying to confirm that all letters have been mailed -- as press rep Andy Jacob said would take place by yesterday -- and ask why District 2, 3, 15, and 21 families have yet to hear any news. More news when it's known.

53 comments:

D15parent said...

PS 261 families in district 15 have heard.

Anonymous said...

Confirming nothing from District 3 as of Tuesday. Can you speak to them directly?

Anonymous said...

We got an acceptance letter from first choice Arts & Letters today.

Anonymous said...

I'm a District 2 parent and we haven't heard anything yet.

Anonymous said...

My child was accepted at a school in District 15, not listed on his application. I thought he was going to get one of the 6 choices. I'm shocked.

helen said...

anon at 8:17, are you now in D 15, and are the six schools you initially chose also within the district? Pretty incredible that they placed him off your list. Are you familiar with the school where your son was ultimately offered a seat?
The appeals process is onerous, but it seems that your son should have a seat at one of the six schools you listed, provided he met all of their entrance criteria, etc. Is your guidance counselor any kind of decent advocate? At least there's an appeals process for D 15 - some districts don't have a formal policy in place. Another bureaucratic mess, and the kids take the punch.

Anonymous said...

I understand one school in District 15 (Cobble/Boreum Hill area)found out today. Letters went to directly to school then note was given to child - thought letter would go to child's home. Anything from District 20?

Anonymous said...

Our principal at my child's school here in District 14 told the 5th graders today that she received her middle school placement list this afternoon. I asked her after school where my child was placed and luckily he received his first choice. We still haven't received out letter in the mail though.

Anonymous said...

I'm a parent in District 2 and the schools website posted an announcement stating that the DOE mailed the letters today. I'm hoping to receive something within 2 days. To be continue.....

Anonymous said...

I'm shocked at the incompetence and misinformation.
I was told by District 2 on Friday that letters would be sent out directly by Monday via the elementary schools. Yesterday the same person said "this week," mailed directly by the central office, "hopefully," with us receiving them this week.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:17 - may I ask what six schools you put, and what they ultimately assigned you to that wasn't on the list? (I just think that's crazy and unfair, that ALL six would be filled! I can understand 51, New Voices, and Math & Science...but what ELSE is becoming so hard to get into? Collab. Studies? Sunset Park Prep?)

Anonymous said...

Have people in District 15 received the acceptance notice from their grade school or in the mail to their houses?

Anonymous said...

D15 here and have NOT heard yet - not from the school or in the mail...

D15parent said...

Like the other poster, I received an acceptance letter directly from Arts and Letters yesterday. I have not received any "official" letter from the DOE but students at my child's school were given index cards with their placements.
I think the DOE is been misleading parents by saying that letters would be mailed to families. I think they were mailed to the elementary schools and a roster was emailed late Monday to the schools. I made some calls on Monday and from what I could piece together it sounds like a database is emailed from "central" to the district enrollment offices and those rosters are then sent to the individual elementary school. The buzzwords "accountable" and "transparent" do not seem to apply to Tweed.
For TrudiRose - I think you listed all of the most popular schools and they are able to fill slots with students who rank them number one or two. It doesn't seem like having a standardized process changed anything other than creating unnecessary delays and aggravation.

dr. Monty Weinstein said...

What is the appeals process in District 15. Could someone please spell it out. If it exists then it is mandatory that it should exist in Districts 21 and 22 etc. So who does one contact assuming one is not happy with the assignment once it comes in this millenium?

Anonymous said...

Here's the thing...

To the DOE: BE HONEST
Don't call it SCHOOL CHOICE when it's not.
If you're mailing letters to families then mail them.
When you say the letters went out, make sure they actually went out.

To the DOE: BE ACCOUNTABLE
When you say you're going to mail notices on 4/15, either mail them or let people know when you're going to mail them. And by letting people know, it's not posting on insideschools.org, but on the official site.

If what you're planning on doing is re-distributing students within the district THEN SAY SO. Be up front. People may be upset, but at least your motives are clear.

If you're simply overwhelmed by the amount of children entering the city schools, then LET THAT BE KNOWN.

What we need is clear, concise, trustworthy, accountable information coming from SOMEWHERE and it should be the DOE and not a non-profit (although this site has been a lifesaver!)

Anonymous said...

It's absolutely outrageous that the DOE is holding us hostage like this. I cannot believe parents are not storming city hall. As far as I know District 3 has heard nothing and parents are seen huddling in little groups whispering, afraid to say something out loud for fear that it will destroy their child's chance of getting into their choice of school.

Anonymous said...

We called our daughter's first D2 choice this morning and they told us she was accepted. No letter yet though.

Anonymous said...

Helen- were you able to confirm the letters have been mailed? I wrote ms enrollment yesterday and they said the letters had been "sent to a vendor". Does anyone know why they couldn't just put them in the mail themselves?

Anonymous said...

My daughter's school (D 15)- has broken down and is verbally telling parents who call or come into the office. The schools all have the lists, and they will bow to parent pressure. They do realize how crazy it is that we have heard nothing.

Anonymous said...

D2 - ESM and Salk have notified some parents of acceptances. Dont sit on your hands. This is a terrible system and we parents need to use our voices to get results. Call 311 and complain! Email the Chancellor, DOE, and City Council speaker Christine Quinn and Education Chair Robert Jackson and your district's school choice program director. That's how I found out where my daughter was placed (and how she probably finally got placed). If you just sit by - NOTHING will change.

Anonymous said...

Nothing in the mail today either (D3). This is nuts. There is no way these letters were mailed when the DOE claims. Helen, did you ever get confirmation from MS Enrollment of when letters were supposedly in the mail?

dr. Monty Weinstein said...

No news from District 21 or District 22 and our school - P.S. 215 - has not receive any lists. Nor has DOE responded to my e mail so this is a royal joke. Is there a central coordinating entity that parents can coalesce around to protest?

Anonymous said...

Nothing from D3 in our mailbox either. What a load of BS.

Anonymous said...

My DS's District 3 school received a list of the MS admissions. However, have not rec'd a personal letter.

Anna said...

In response to Dr. Monty Weinstein: the person in charge is Sandy Ferguson, Executive Director for MS Enrollment. I assume his office is at Tweed but don't know the room number (52 Chambers Street, New York, New York 10007). E-mail is Sfergus@schools.nyc.gov. We should all bombard him!

Anonymous said...

re: Anna's response to Dr. Monty, here is the complete info for Sandy Ferguson:

Sandy Ferguson
Executive Director for MS Enrollment
Office of Student Enrollment Planning and Operations
52 Chambers Street, Room 415
New York, NY 10007

sfergus@schools.nyc.gov

V: 212.374.7636
F: 212.374.5568

Anonymous said...

Waiting on in distict 25!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the contact info for Sandy Ferguson. I just sent this:

I write on behalf of my son, Gerald, who will graduate from 5th grade in a little over two weeks. We have not received notification of where he will attend middle school. The joy of completing his elementary school education at PS 199 is greatly overshadowed by his daily dismay of not knowing where he has been accepted for middle school. He was patient through May 31st but his anxiety mounts daily. As his parents, we find it challenging to explain this situation to him because we do not understand it. We met our application deadlines. The timeline we received indicated that we would receive notifications in mid-May. Each day since May 15th has felt longer than the last.

Gerald is expected to show up on time to school, ready to learn. We make sure he has a good night's sleep and feed him a healthy breakfast. His fine teachers expect that he do his best work daily and meet deadlines for homework and other written assignments. If he doesn't achieve the goals they have set for him, he is sent to 'homework club' to work on his assignments instead of enjoying recess.

It appears that your office has not maintained these same high standards for yourselves. If I could send you to 'homework club' until your work was complete, I would. Alternatively, I implore you to fix this situation (since I cannot).

Sincerely...

Anonymous said...

Nothing in District 21 either. The wait sadly continues. My daughter is presently in private school, if they notify kids through the public school system does this mean that we will never get a letter mailed to our home? Most amazing that we all took time out of the kids weekend to sit and test for these schools and no one bothers to respond.

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:10 - VERY well spoken! We parents always tell our kids how important it is to fulfill their responsibilities and hand their essays and projects in on time...but meanwhile, the adults in charge of their FUTURES are missing deadline after deadline without so much as an apology! It's disgraceful.

Anonymous said...

Awaiting district 20 and 21 notification. Still no sign of the illusive letter. When they said they were going to send an answer in May, perhaps I should have asked them, May of what year? Why is OSEPO's inefficiency tolerated? They continually botch things up and yet, with every passing year, the DOE hands them more responsibility over our childrens' educational futures. DOE's response to the mess OSEPO first made of High School placement was to hand them Middle School placement as well. After last year's middle school confusion, they were given over Pre-K placement. Again they bungled, leaving many kids without an assigned school. The same thing appears to be happening with OSEPO's latest attempt at middle school placement. How long before the DOE realizes that they've made a mistake? And what of OSEPO's formula for school acceptance? Why is the specific algorithm they use allowed to remain mystery? What do they have to hide anyway?

Anonymous said...

Mail just came. Yet another day with no letter from D15 or D21.

Anna said...

I just called District 21's office (718-759-4914) and they said to call them Friday afternoon (tomorrow) if nothing arrives in the mail that day.

Anonymous said...

nothing in the mail today for D2..

Anonymous said...

Heard from Delta- District 3 today.

Anonymous said...

2:03, did you hear directly from Delta or was it a letter from DOE?

Anonymous said...

Received district 3 Delta letter today for those who are obsessively checking their mail....

Anonymous said...

We heard directly from Delta. It was mailed yesterday. The little note expressed their frustration with the whole process and their feeling that they need to have a sense of the new incoming class.

Anonymous said...

No letter from in the mail today for District 20/21. I am also a teacher in the district and the stress this will cause the middle schools to process all these children before the end of the school year is unreal.

Anonymous said...

My counselor at PS 40 informed me today that my son was accepted at his first choice school, SOF, and later in the day I received a letter from the school inviting us to a tea they're giving next week. Still nothing from the DOE though.

Anonymous said...

No news today from District 20/21. Just got the mail. Anyone heard in those districts yet?

Anonymous said...

No word from D15/21 for me either....its making me a little crazy!

Anonymous said...

Got a letter from Delta today, D3, but still nothing from DOE.

sosps said...

In District 15, some schools have been giving parents their children's placements, since no letters have been received. I've learned that despite my son's high grades and test scores, model behavior, always doing homework, etc. etc., my child -- a self-described nerd who loves math and science -- was placed in a school not on our list, where the majority of the students are performing way below grade level in math and ELA, there is no science program to speak of, high levels of truancy, etc. Let's just call this the nightmare scenario. I will appeal but if unsuccessful I would have to move. What I want to know is whether there are any school districts in NYC where there is no middle school "choice" and one could simply move into the zone for a halfway decent school and register? Is that a crazy idea? Or do we have to move to some God-forsaken suburb?

D15parent said...

sosps,
Friends of mine moved to North Flushing which doesn't have this nonsense for middle school. I hear the schools are excellent.
Maybe Bayridge or Midwood? Those were my back up plans if things didn't work out.
I know some kids in the exact same situation. Fight the placement as hard as you can.

Anonymous said...

Re: dist 20 and 21. I have just received notification from the DOE. I can't believe my eyes. After so much waiting I actually have the papers in my hands! My son had the good fortune of getting picked by three schools, all top choices. Now it's decision time. I'm so excited! I can't wait to tell him the news.
To those that are still waiting, the DOE is finally getting those blasted letters out. To those who were not given the school of their choice, my heart goes out to you.

Anonymous said...

I have the same problems as SOSPS....my son was at the top of his gifted program, yet got into a school that is low performing and not on our list at all (D15). In D21, he got into his #2 choice, Boody, for art. Its going to be very difficult to explain this all to him. A lot of hard work and good grades, and our district has nothing for him. We will also appeal D15, in case all the kids who got into MS51 go to Twain.

Anonymous said...

My daughter, a 5th grader at PS 321, with scores of 4 on all her state tests, great grades, and glowing teacher comments, has not been placed in ANY school. She has been lost by the system entirely, it would appear. The Guidance Counselor, God bless her is trying hard, but no information. I cannot get a human being on the phone anywhere.

Anonymous said...

Finally got the DOE letter - our dd was accepted at Delta (D3). Very relieved and happy for dd.

Anonymous said...

We got one letter that clearly accepted us to ms51 in our D.15, and another that said: "Your child did not receive an offer through the District Middle School Choice process. Your child has been assigned to attend his or her zoned middle school." (which clearly she hasn't, since she was accepted to 51) Is the second letter a rejection from District 21? Its so unclear! The way things have gone, I"m wondering if they didn't just send us 2 letters for D. 15! Probably not, but if anyone else applied to D.21 schools and got a similar rejection letter, I'd love to know, just to be sure....

Anonymous said...

We applied in our own district 15 and also to district 21, and got the same two letters. But so did at least one family in district 15 who only applied to district 15 schools. MS 51 was their top choice, they got a letter accepting them to 51 and they got the other letter too. I don't think it has anything to do with district 21.

Anonymous said...

Per new advisory on DOE website, D21 sent a separate letter to those who applied from out of district to D21 magnet schools, so if you got 2 letters, one saying you were not placed, the second letter is probably from D21.