Alina Adams is a New York City mom of 3 school-age children and a New York Times best-selling author of soap-opera tie-ins, figure-skating mysteries and romance novels. She is a contributing writer to TODAY Show Parenting, Mommy Poppins, BlogHer, Red Tricycle, Café Mom, and Kveller. After going through the NYC school application process with her own children and realizing just how convoluted, Draconian and needlessly complex it was, Alina resolved to help make all parents aware of all their school choices—and how to get them—via her books, “Getting Into NYC Kindergarten” and “Getting Into NYC High-School,” as well as her podcast, “NYC School Secrets: Parents Helping Parents.” Read more and listen at: www.NYCSchoolSecrets.com
2022 brings a new mayor to New York City, Eric Adams, and a new School Chancellor, David Banks. What are the most important issues facing NYC schools for 2022 according to parents? We count down our most popular posts of 2021 as an indicator: 5) Department of Ed Hard Sells BrilliantNYC: Are Parents Buying? Excerpt:… Continue reading NYC’s Top 5 Education Issues For 2022: According to Parents
Outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio hasn’t had a lot of luck with his School Chancellors. His first pick, Carmen Farina, opened multiple Dual Language programs… but barely lasted through de Blasio’s first term. His second, Alberto Carvalho, accepted the job, then backed out at the last minute – on live television. He… Continue reading NYC, Meet the New School Chancellor: What This Means For Your Child
In February of 2021, when New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio announced the end of elementary school Gifted & Talented programming, he also promised: We will spend the next year engaging communities around what kind of programming they would like to see that is more inclusive, enriching, and truly supports the needs of academically… Continue reading Department of Ed Hard Sells BrilliantNYC: Are Parents Buying?
Anywhere else in the country (the world?), the idea that New York City families start worrying about where their children will attend school over a full year in advance is considered insane. But that’s when the official process starts here. NYC private schools put up their applications as early as August, but no later than… Continue reading What We Know So Far: Applying to NYC Schools for 2022
With Thanksgiving coming up on Thursday, it’s a logical time to think about what I’m thankful for this year when it comes to New York City schools. This is a personal list. I’m not going to get into the pros and cons of broader issues such as school reopenings, vaccine mandates, masking kids, or the… Continue reading 5 Things I’m Thankful For This Year (NYC Schools Edition)
When New York City shut down due to the Covid pandemic in March of 2020, my middle child was a sophomore in high school. We were informed that Spring parent-teacher conferences would be held over Zoom. I was excited by the idea. At that point, I’d spent close to a decade of my life attending… Continue reading Are Remote Parent-Teacher Conferences Here To Stay?
November 2, 2021 was Election Day in New York City. Schools were closed, as many of them were being used as polling places. (However, many a parent did wonder why they weren’t allowed into their child’s school building due to Covid restrictions – but unvaccinated strangers were.) However, instead of the traditional day off, students… Continue reading NYC Parents Speak Up About Remote Learning on Election Day – And On All Future Snow Days
Non presidential year elections tend to result in low voter turn-out in New York City. Which is a shame, because, as I wrote exactly one year ago: I have been offering open-to-the-public Getting Into NYC Kindergarten and Getting Into NYC High School workshops for about 15 years now. But it was only four years ago… Continue reading When It Comes to NYC Schools, Why You Should #VoteLocal