Current D2 Middle School standings

[Anonymous]

We live in District 2 and have started booking public school tours for our rising 6th grader.

- Can anybody provide feedback about which schools are currently considered best? It seems like the usual quartet is ESMS, Lab, Clinton, and Salk, but I don't know if that's still true or how people tend to rank within that group.

- What's the latest on the merger of Salk with 75 Morton? I know they're renovating the building and that PS40 is already over capacity and needs those extra floors to implement the class size law, so it's unlikely to be called off, but do we know if Salk is likely to remain an independent school (merely sharing a building with Morton) or whether they're going to merge them completely?

- What's the deal with Clinton and IB? I've seen some people say it's challenging in a good way and others say it's either pointless busy work or ineptly implemented; also some complaints about the principal being better at marketing the school than running it. And is a guaranteed spot in that high school valuable at all?

- Why is ESMS so obsessed with dance? (feels like 3 periods a week is a LOT) Is my kid likely to have trouble fitting in there if they're an awkward and unenthusiastic dancer?

- Are smart kids still favoring those 4 schools or are more of them opting for the Baruch/Wagner screened programs?

- Is there any reason (other than location) to pick Yorkville East over Wagner? Seems like the facilities are a lot more limited - they don't even have a real gym FWICT - and unlike Salk I don't see a lot of academic benefits either.

- My kid has all 4's, but realistically do they have any chance of getting into NEST or TAG or Anderson or is that only possible with an extraordinarily low (like 00) lottery number?

[Anonymous]

NYC parent of older kids here. I don’t have specifics to offer unfortunately. My dc got into NEST for MS and stayed. It was nice bc we avoided the high school drama. So yes, it’s possible.

All those schools you mention are known as very good schools. People stress a lot, and I know I did too, but your dc will end up someplace decent. I personally think NYC publics are quite strong.

As an aside, I’ve heard people who didn’t like IB programs but I don’t have specifics