A pre-K classroom at P.S. 145

As you may have read here before, we’re having affordability issues with Dalia’s current school, and have therefore set off into the wider world of Uptown Manhattan in search of a universal pre-K spot.

To that end, we’re in the middle of schedule-chewing string of school visits up and down Manhattan’s District 3. Some things I now know:

•Public pre-K is a beautiful thing, if you can get a spot. Just look at the classroom here. Bright, airy, warm, and right across from the projects at 104th Street.

•The bureaucracy is stunning. We went to the big pre-K meeting for the borough of Manhattan last night. It was a 90-minute session (which started an hour late). A third of the time was spent going through the Department of Education’s Website, page by page, in a PowerPoint presentation. As in, “Here, where it says fill in your first name, this is where you would put YOUR name. Okay, next slide”. After 30 minutes I wanted to shoot myself. There were a couple of moments of learning, but the actual pre-K classes better be more edifying than the meetings about the classes.

•They serve a tremendous number of kids. More than 22,000 children applied to public-school pre-K programs in the five boroughs last year, and more than 17,000 were offered some kind of spot. Good God, that’s an army of preschoolers.

•The parent coordinators, who tend to be the shock troops receiving the most complaints about the underfunded programs (“pre-K parents can be kind of… aggressive,” is how P.S. 163’s José Duran put it), do a great job. Duran and almost all the other coordinators we’ve dealt with have been patient, generous with their time, and ready to answer any question. Somehow, despite the ID checks with the cops and guards at each school building, the visits end up feeling less formal and far more welcoming than the stilted tours at most private schools.

•We still have no idea what’s going to happen. Maybe we’ll find a way to afford private school for another year. Maybe we’ll find a program that no one else has “discovered” that looks great and has plenty of open seats. Maybe we’ll win the lottery.

I’m headed to work in California over the next two weeks (so look for a marked improvement in my tone and temperament, as I gradually thaw out from the New York winter). But we will be at it when I get back. Applications are due April 9. Stay tuned.