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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Op - we love the UWS! We were thinking that having a zoned middle on the UES could really alleviate middle school application stress too. But if it were purely a neighborhood choice we’d prefer to live on the UWS. For the UES the area we’re looking at an apartment in is 86&Lex which seems more run down than the UWS [/quote]

Wagner is nice but I wouldn't say it's any [b]better than Booker, which is more-or-less the default school on the UWS[/b]. Also, if you get a good lottery number, in D2 your potential upgrade choices are ESMS plus three downtown schools (Salk might move but I don't think it would move uptown), while in D3 the upgrades are all on the UWS.

We're in D2 and love it but we also live downtown, where its benefits are maximized.[/quote]

IMO Booker is hands down the best middle school on the UWS. Don't confuse selectivity with quality. [/quote]

Depends on how you define best. I found Booker to be insufferable. Principal is extremely rigid - it killed her when she had to go to the lottery and take everyone. She tries to scare people off but still theoretically has to educate all comers. Kids with IEPs are treated like redheaded stepchildren and warehoused.

Too much group think and "what did you get on the test" among students and parents. The high school process is totally miserable. No one can mind their own business.

Academic rigor is great though too much work for the sake of work. Great that they have a robust music program. Can't make sports unless you play travel. Location is not great. Nice that school has its own building rather than sharing.
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Each to his own, I guess. I loved the Booker T principal. She didn't cater to whiny snowflake parents. The rigor prepares kids extremely well prepared for SHS schools including Stuy. My kids loved their Booker T friends and had a real neighborhood friend group that stayed cohesive even after going to different HS all over the city. But if your kid needs a ton of support and attention, I wouldn't recommend it, or any large NY public tbh. Truthfully WESS is probably the best MS choice on the UWS - guaranteed spot at a high school where your child will learn nothing, but have a transcript with a 98 average in 15 AP classes, and get into a top college.[/quote]

That is such a Booker comment. Drank the Kool Aid. Think that you need to do a ton of work to learn something.

I know a number of kids who went to WESS and Computer who did a lot less work yet went on to excel at SHSAT schools (and to feed your Booker obsession, I am referring to top SHSAT schools, even though most of us know that they are all great) and top privates. Booker people look down at these schools, as you did in your comment. It is obnoxious.

And there is a value to having your kid go through middle school, particularly 7th and 8th grade, without the stress of the HS process. Especially the obsessive attitude of people at Booker. Yes, it is very important. But at most other schools in the city, there is not the non-stop conversation about it like there is at Booker. Families take it very seriously but mind their own business.

In 8th grade my child did various activities and hung out socially with a bunch of Booker kids. And they found it miserable being around them. Because they couldn't shut up about it. My child got into "better" schools than most of these kids and has thrived at this school - they were more than adequately prepared without the barrage of work that Elster insists is necessary.

I would also like to note that given the relatively new HS process, if you have a bright kid but veer from the prescribed Booker belief that SHSAT schools are the be all and end all and want your kid to go elsewhere, it is a lot harder to do coming out of Booker because it is almost mandatory to be in Tier 1 to get into a good Gen Ed school and that is harder to do at Booker than elsewhere. I know several Booker families who either decided that SHSAT schools were not right for their kids and/or their kids just weren't good test takers, their kids were in Tier 2, and there was a ton of anxiety around high schools.

Don't get me wrong. Booker is a great school. It has a lot going for it, as I noted. I do wish that some of the other schools upped the rigor a bit more as there is a happy medium between how they were and how Booker is (and I think this is happening). But the irrational attitude that it is the be all, end all is awful and not kind. But you be you.[/quote]

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