Schools and the City

March marks the month that parents in Boston and Cambridge learn which school their kindergarteners and pre-kindergarteners will attend in the fall. Both cities, like many others, use lottery systems to try to diversify their schools, and this month parents receive a letter indicating whether or not they got one of their top-choice schools. For many parents who do not receive a top-choice school, this is also the month they reluctantly put-up the "for sale" sign and leave for the 'burbs.

Here is a Boston Globe article about Boston's lottery assignment system and the frustrations and anxieties it can cause parents who desperately want to remain city-dwellers and who the city desperately needs to retain to ensure a vibrant and diverse middle-class.

As the recent article in Boston Magazine highlights, there are options for city parents who want to remain in the city once kindergarten rolls around. I hope that an increasing number of parents will consider homeschooling as a viable option to remain in the city and uncover the endless learning possibilities the city creates for our children.