louisemccabe1

Hi, I'm new here and was looking for a bit of advice. My husband and I will be opening our business in New York and we're relocating at the end of the year. I have lived in the city before (for a couple of years) but I was single and living in a "child-friendly neighbourhood" was the last of my priorities! This time round I'll have our 2 children (a 5 yr old and a young baby). We would like to be in Manhattan and we also have the task of finding a good public school for our little boy, which seems to be a bit of a minefield. We have a fairly healthy rental budget but not quite Tribeca money. Would appreciate any advice at all regarding the best neighbourhoods for families in Manhattan, with some decent public schools. Thanks in advance.

Bob

Welcome to BE and good luck.

Might want to look down a bit though as there was a thread on schools in NYC a couple od days ago and quite a few threads on places to live in the area too.

notonuksoil

use this site to look for schools in NYC http://insideschools.org/

The best public schools are PS150, PS234 and PS397 other than those I wouldn't be happy to recommend others as I don't know people with kids in other public schools in the city.

Best advice I can give you is to come over and visit as many as you can if that is at all possible. Only problem with NYC is all the best public schools are usually over subscribed so you may live in the right area but not get your kid into the school you want.

louisemccabe1

Thanks Bob, will do just that. Notonuksoil thanks also for your advice too. Yes we are going to come over hopefully asap and start viewing schools. 2 that you mentioned sound great from reviews but I think they're in Tribeca (?) which we won't be renting in due to INSANE rental prices. The last one can I check with you PS397 is listed as being in Brooklyn and gets (ranging from) not great to terrible reviews, is that the one you meant or is it a typo? Either way I appreciate you both getting in touch with advice. Best wishes, Louise

notonuksoil

PS397 I mentioned is on Spruse Street (school district 2) NYC its a new ish school its picking up the overflow from 234 - also Tribeca area i'm afraid. You may want to check the zoning for this school as its changed recently.

City schools are very hit and miss and finding one you like thats a good fit then finding a place to live in that area is like winning a medium payout on the lottery!

Thats the reason we chose a school in the burbs when we relocated here. We looked at Park Slope and Cobble Hill in Brooklyn plus schools in Manhattan and decided it was better to look further afield.

Michael

Once problem with Manhattan and many US large cities is that the rich normally send their children to private schools so schools with high ranking in the core cities are hard to find. Therefore many move to the burbs for schools with higher rankings.

notonuksoil

Agree with this. The elementary schools I listed earlier are full of kids who WILL go to private school from 6th grade onward. It just so happens that the parents in this particular area of NYC have such high incomes they are able to fund these particular schools with donations and PTA fund raisers that puts them on a par with the private schools in the city and not have to pay those years of private school tuition fees. The parents also demand a lot from these schools as far as teaching and results are concerned as most are working on Wall Street or CEO's of their own companies (not all but a high percentage)

Michael

I agree but most people in the upper middle class can't afford to live in the few areas with high ranking schools in the core city. It is the same for San Francisco with a few very high ranking schools in the very wealthy areas but most of the high ranking schools are in Marin county, the peninsula, or the east bay hills in upper middle class areas.

penguinbar

P.S.6 , P.S. 159 and P.S. 290. They are all on the Upper East Side. Lot's of young family's here. It's my neighborhood.

P.S. 6 is especially highly regarded. Have you thought about looking into Catholic Schools as well? They aren't free but less expensive than private schools.