How to Get Into the Public School of Your Choice – Hoboken, NJ

I recently announced that I transferred my children from private school to public. With almost no college savings and major career changes happening for me and my husband, the smart move for our family was to enroll the kids at Salvatore R. Calabro Elementary School in Hoboken, NJ.

Ever since my announcement, my inbox has been bursting with people sending congratulations and questions. The #1 question? How did you get your kids into this small, highly regarded public elementary school? With only one class of 22 kids per grade (the school offers K-6) and a burgeoning population of school-age children, your odds of getting into Calabro are about the same as charter school admission or winning the New Jersey Megamillions Lottery.

So how did I get my kids into Calabro? By asking.

When I toured Calabro back in March, a first grader was leaving – I took pictures of his classroom in the middle of his farewell party. My curiosity piqued, I asked if there was a wait list and was told no, because nobody moves their kid in the second half of the second semester. So I put my first grader on the wait list on the spot. The day registration opened for second grade, we registered her. I operated on the assumption that my incoming kindergartener would not get a spot since he had to apply through the spring Abbott lottery and would not be eligible for sibling preference unless his sister was already enrolled. We got extremely lucky for kindergarten since the timing worked out that my oldest child had a spot when it came to Abbott placement, placing my son at the head of the list thanks to sibling priority.

Why was nobody on the waitlist? Because Calabro does not release the information about available spots. I suspect people assumed there were no spots available since the school is so small, and by the second half of the second semester, all first grade applicants had dropped off the wait list. If I had not already known there was a spot available, I would not have pursued Calabro. But because I knew there was a spot open from the first grader who left, I crossed my fingers that nobody with a sibling registered at the school would jump the waitlist ahead of us and kept our plans open. I re-registered my kids to attend Hoboken Catholic Academy (HCA), which unlike many private schools does not require families to sign a contract guaranteeing payment of the entire year's tuition. Our total educational cost for 2013-14? The HCA registration fee and one month of tuition.

More – Going Undercover at Calabro

Deconstructing Hoboken as the #1 Least Attractive US School District

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Kathy Zucker, CEO of Metro Moms Network, mother of three young children and winner of the New York Life Keep Good Going Shorty Award, writes about juggling career and family in an urban setting. Read her MomCondoLiving blog, follow her on Twitter (@KathyZucker), or friend her on Facebook.