School Zones...

...Or should I say fences? Maybe this isn't news to anyone but I can't find much discussion of it online. Most people I know don't have kids so I'm going to come out and reveal this shocker. The way public school zones are drawn in New York City are completely corrupt, discriminatory, and utter bullshit. The only thing I could find on this topic was an old court case in Tennessee where they were complaining that the school zones were drawn to keep the schools segregated. In NYC, your child has very little choice but to attend a school in your zone. What got me started on this? Our neighborhood in Forest Hills, of course. It's a very diverse place, both in nationality and economically. Case in point, our building is a co-op where the apts range from $150K-$250K. Right across the street are actual houses that are about $950K-$1.75MM. Down the street on the co-op side of the block is where the apts start going for $500K-$700K. And wouldn't you know it? The best school zone in the area, containing P.S. 196, manages to zig and zag it's way around the cheaper buildings and enclose the richer ones. Check out this map below. We're the red dot:

If you knew the neighborhood well enough, you'd see that the grey chunk in the upper left is all moderately priced apts. I find it interesting that the grey area even juts out at 67th Drive to exclude part of a block.

Now, this could all be for naught because who the hell knows where we'll be living in 5 years when Alina starts school. And the zone we're currently in, containing P.S. 175, is a very high achieving school itself. But P.S. 196 is the kind of school they advertise in real estate listings because of how sought after the district is. And for the moment, it taunts me as its lines run up the middle of my street. Right outside my window! Where the children draw with gold plated crayons and eat paste made from crushed pearls. For now, I just throw my hands up and try to find out who at the Department of Education draws these lines and why. And who influences them?