So, perhaps our loyal DadWagon readers thought that now, with the NYC school year underway, that the Universal Pre-K bitching was finally at end, one way or another. Please, I would hope you folks know us better than that by now. We simply do not stop complaining here at DadWagon. We like to complain. We live to complain.

JP was officially rejected by his local public school in both rounds of lottery applications. I’m trying not to feel too bad. According to the New York Daily News, his school received 499 applications for just 36 spots. Combine those odds with the fact the lottery system is weighted towards children with siblings already in the school, and JP’s chances of getting in were basically non-existent.

To protect ourselves we enrolled JP in a local private preschool, which costs about $14,000 per year for four full days a week. We had to put down $1000 as a non-refundable deposit, along with another $3000 payment due yesterday, the first day of school. The only problem is that we are still on the waiting list at the public school. If not enough kids who were accepted at the public school register (their family moved, they decided to go to private school), then JP could conceivably still get in. What this meant was we showed up for the first day minus our check, and the good folks at the school were so kind as not to ask for it.

Then this morning another, closer, cheaper private pre-school where JP was on a wait list called and asked if were still interested in a spot. Presumably we will have to give them some non-refundable deposit money, which we are likely to do, given the location and the fact that it’s five days a week instead of four. Of course, we could lose this money, too, if the public school calls us and offers JP a spot. For those of you counting at home, that’s a potential couple thousand dollar loss at two schools that JP might never attend.

Someone please shoot me. Please.