Queens education situation
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3/17/2007
Hi, we have been living in Queens for almost 3 years now. We left the East Village in Manhattan when our daughter was 18 months old. We wanted to buy an apartment, which is impossible in Manhattan for the middle class. We now have two kids and our daughter will be starting Pre K in September. I am worried about our educational options here in Jackson Heights/East Elmhurst because the neighborhood is so saturated with Hispanics (both legal and illegal). I am of Hispanic descent myself and felt that I would teach my kids spanish at home. I realized that all of the kids in my neighborhood speak only spanish and my daughter would be the only english speaking child in her class! I don't want her overlooked or shortchanged on her education because she is english-speaking and the school she is zoned for caters to a Hispanic majority. I hadn't anticipated private education for two kids, but that may be our only resort if we remain in this area. The public schools are horribly overcrowded here, also. Do I move to Long Island and pay $10,000 property taxes? or go back to Florida, where I am from originally?
Teresa | New York, NY