UPK results in....not OK!

It's been a truly trying week.
We got our Universal Pre-K results.
Jack got waitlisted at every school we put on our list, including PS 20, our zoned school in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. He got an offer at a school we have never even heard off, outside of our district.

UPK is a truly wonderful thing, helping to alleviate the incredibly high cost of childcare for working parents here in NYC. But my goodness - the struggle!

The worst part is that I blame myself. We did everything we could - we got the application in the day the NYC Schools platform opened (the evening before actually, I logged on and saw it opened early). We only included 6 schools vs. the maximum of 12 or 15 that we were allowed. But we put only the schools that we wanted to send him to, as directed. But the problem is - we were cocky. We thought we'd get in. We didn't establish a true back up plan. I have been lucky with things like this my whole life, and I just thought - he is zoned for PS 20, let the gods look down upon us and make it so.

So now here we are...in wait-land. Waiting to see if Jack gets into a 2nd choice school that we are not zoned for, in a less than convenient location from us. Waiting and hoping that our current private school does not fill up for next year, so that we still have that as a backup option.

I took this time off from my job, well quit, thinking it would be this luxuriously enriching time. More time for me - to care for my health, to care for my self, to enrich my spirit and soul with classes and books and movies and meet ups and events...to spend more time with my son, to figure out life more broadly and generally. It has not worked out like that.

It feels like every week, a new bomb is thrown our way. It detonates and we scramble, trying to figure out what to do next. I spent all of Tuesday in a womblike state after Monday's results came in.

(This is a little bit ridiculous I know. This is not a life or death situation. Where Jack goes to Pre-K is not going to significantly impact or alter for better or worse his future development and life prospects. But still, it matters. Because we want him to go to a good school, of course, and because proximity matters and lack of it impacts our entire family.)

Wednesday, I biked around multiple Brooklyn boroughs, stopping at our 6 listed schools to find out Jack's status on the waitlists, and to the DOE (Dept of Edu) and lastly, to the DOE welcome center for our District and zone (13).

At least now, I have more information. I know where he stands. PS 20 is a complete and utter stretch - a unicorn in the realm of the UPK system. And it is a system. A very imperfect system. I'm so glad for it. And I'm so mad at it too.