GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

I am an eighth-grade student at PS/MS 147 in Queens, and I’m sure I’m not the only annoyed eighth-grader in the city. I’m annoyed because after six months of a long, complicated high school admissions process, things got delayed even more a few weeks ago.

In early October 2009, six months ago, every eighth-grader in the city was handed a high school admissions application. We were told to complete this application by ranking the high schools of our choice and to submit it by early December. For the next couple of months, we all rushed around to open houses and information sessions to learn about the schools that we could choose. A few of the high schools that I applied to were Townsend Harris, Benjamin N. Cardozo, and Queens Collegiate — all good schools, but still, I knew that my ranking would decide where I go to high school, which could influence my future for a long time. That decision has to be taken seriously, so my classmates and I stressed out about our rankings before submitting them.

We thought that was all we would have to do, but then in the middle of February, all the eighth-grade students in my school were called to our auditorium. We were told that the city was closing 14 high schools, and that all of us who applied to any of those schools must reapply. (more…)