Choosing A New York City Kindergarten For Your Roosevelt Island Child - What You Need To Know From The Roosevelt Island Parents' Network Workshop

Roosevelt Island Parents' Network (RIPN) Coordinator Eva Bosbach reports:

About 20 parents attended the second annual RIPN "Parents for Parents" Choosing a NYC Kindergarten Workshop on November 2.

Our speakers were parents who investigated various kindergarten options and successfully placed their children in a variety of schools and programs including:

• PS/IS 217, 
• Lower Lab, 
• PS 267, 
• PS 11, 
• Ella Baker, 
• Gifted & Talented (application deadline extended to November 12)
• Charters
• and private schools.

These parents shared their experience and knowledge about their decisions, the preparation involved and the admission process.

Please find HERE a handout with different time lines of the process and other resources for parents. Emily Gohn-Barnhill, the Director of the Bright Horizons/MSKCC Children's Center at 475 Main St, prepared these materials and kindly approved their distribution to the Roosevelt Island Parents' Network member families and Roosevelt Islander Online readers.

Many thanks to Kristi Towey, Tamara Troadec, Michal Melamed, Natalie Remor, Catherine Shiels, Sarit Schwartz, Maya Bar Dagan, Kelly Turner, Mary Anne Feeney and Matthew Matasar, who donated their time to share their knowledge and experience as our panelists! A special thank you to Jen Reyes for the graphic design of our flyer.

The event was hosted by Main Street Sweets, the Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation and the RI Parents' Network.

Here's video of the RIPN November 2 Roosevelt Island Choosing A NYC Kindergarten Workshop.

Part 1 - Introduction by Ms. Bosbach, an overview of the Kindergarten selection process, United Nations International School and Individual Education Program



Part 2 - Lower Lab Gifted & Talented Program, Testing, Charter Schools, Pre - Kindergarten programs.



Part 3 - PS 11 Gifted and Talented Program, Sibling Priority, local Roosevelt Island PS 217 and Beacon after school programs.



Part 4 - More on local Roosevelt Island PS 217 school and testing.



Part 5 - Ella Baker progressive school and private schools



Part 6 - Questions and answers.



There was another 10 minutes of Q and A which I missed.

More information available from this handout and July 28 Roosevelt Island education presentation by Cornell Tech's Director of K-12 Education Jane Levitt.