one list for kindergarten. one placement.

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By Joyce Szuflita
The big change in kindergarten admissions this year is that G&T choices are included on your application along with your zoned school, un-zoned programs, out of zone programs, and dual language programs. You only get one placement from this list. This has been confirmed by the DoE.

There are two things that are important to understand.

  1. You have a very high priority to your zoned school as a zoned family. That doesn’t change if you list the school as your #1 choice or your #12 choice. Ranking a school lower on your list, doesn’t disadvantage you for that school. That has to do with the brilliance of the Nobel Prize winning algorithm that places you in a program.

  2. You are not “accepted in” G&T. You are ELIGIBLE or not. This seems like a fine point, but there is not threshold that places you in G&T. Whether you attend is a combination of whether you are eligible, the seats available, and how lucky or not you are.

You must RANK SCHOOLS AND PROGRAMS IN TRUE PREFERENCE ORDER!!

…and that is hard because you are comparing apples and oranges.
For example:
if you rank your zoned school higher than G&T, you will likely get into your zoned school (because you have very high priority for that school). Even if you are eligible for G&T, you will not get the placement, because you ranked it lower.

If you place the G&T program higher than your zoned school. IF YOU ARE ELIGIBLE, you will get in. In that case, you wouldn’t have a placement at your zoned school. IF YOU ARE NOT ELIGIBLE, you are not in any way disadvantaged for your zoned school and that is your likely placement.

There may also be other options in their that you have less priority for but you still may have a shot at, like dual language programs, unzoned schools or neighboring schools that you prefer.

RANK IN TRUE PREFERENCE ORDER. Never deviate from this advice. Not at elementary, middle school or high school.

Charter schools, because they are not programs. Are treated separately. You register for their separate lotteries through the schools’ websites.