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We are an Indian family of three (DH, DD - 5years & myself) planning to move to NJ in 2017 spring/summers. Husband's job will be like he will be fiddling between downtown Jersey city, Weehawken and midtown Manhattan also. I am a finance professional so my best choices of jobs will be in manhattan. Both of us donot want door-to-door commute to work more than 1hour.
Keeping these factors in mind, we have shortlisted areas like Downtown Jersey city, Newport, Waterfront, Hoboken. But to my dissapointment the public schools are average to poor rated in these areas (as per greatschools website). So we are left with no choice but to look in for private schools. Non-catholic private schools are extremely expensive, so we are looking at Catholic schools.
My queries are :-
1) Being a non-catholic family how keen the catholic schools are to admit our daughter? Will my daughter get a fair chance based on her merit to be able to secure a seat in these schools?
2) Do catholic schools in NJ are diverse & accomodative towards non-catholic children?
3) Since we will be landing well past admission time for 2017-18 academic year, do these schools entertain applications for mid year admissions?
4) Overall any other things/facts I need to consider before choosing catholic education for my child?
I will explain my situation, if getting an admission in catholic school in the areas mentioned above donot work out then we will have no choice but to put our kid in a poor rated public school which is something we definitely donot want! We then have to look for options of living in places other than downtown JC or Hoboken.
Can you suggest any other good places to live in NJ considering our situation? Our budget is 1500-2000 for 1 or 2 bedroom apartments.
many catholic schools have closed due to low enrollment, but catholic schools in places like jersey city
do not have that problem since many people who live in that area who can afford it would not send their
children to schools with a high percentage of "urban" kids.
I went to catholic school and it was like the united nations, I am sure some of them were not catholic,
it was the same as every other school but you had a religion class that was only a small part of the day
mostly non religious.
you probably would not be able to wear religious garb like a turban to catholic school but I am sure they
have indian students enrolled.
call the school and tell them your concerns, I am sure you do not need to be catholic you probably just would
have to respect their beliefs.
many catholic schools have closed due to low enrollment, but catholic schools in places like jersey city
do not have that problem since many people who live in that area who can afford it would not send their
children to schools with a high percentage of "urban" kids.
I went to catholic school and it was like the united nations, I am sure some of them were not catholic,
it was the same as every other school but you had a religion class that was only a small part of the day
mostly non religious.
you probably would not be able to wear religious garb like a turban to catholic school but I am sure they
have indian students enrolled.
call the school and tell them your concerns, I am sure you do not need to be catholic you probably just would
have to respect their beliefs.
I have no problem in respecting the beliefs of catholic religion. I also dont mind a small class in religious studies as long as they impart good values to our child. We are a cosmopolitan family and respect people of all faiths (unlike a lot other Indians). Currently my daughter attends a catholic school in India & even I attended a catholic school. In India catholic schools are very tolerant and the only difference is they have a structured prayer everyday, little academically inclined (which gives out only positive results like high test scores) and a more disciplined environment. But there is no diversity issues and they welcome children from other faiths just as lovingly as catholic children. No discrimination or favouritism etc. We LOVE it here
I am trying to understand how is the situation like in NJ.
PS - we donot wear any religious attire like a turban etc. so that is not a concern here.
I live in Jersey City and sent my son to a Catholic preschool. It wasn't a good fit for him and the administration... lacked compassion as ironic as that sounds. I personally don't think we will try Catholic again Many of my son's classmates left after one year. Other parents who stayed told me they planned to take the kids out after a certain grade due to the religious education aspect.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that most Catholic schools increase the religious studies grade by grade. I think OLC has a formula like add 10 minutes per day per grade or something. In my son's preschool, the religious aspect really kicks in for age 4--they start reciting the rosary and hailing Mother Mary and stuff. So a friend who was Christian was really bothered by that emphasis and left the school.
Most of the Catholic schools in Jersey City have open enrollment for lower grades--no testing required as long as there is a spot.
Also re garb... almost all the schools in NJ require uniforms, including all the Catholic schools I've seen in Jersey City. Another money grab heh. My impression is that it was more than just structured prayer. My 2 year old was already praying before each meal and snack and whatnot. I was told they begin bible study in class. Not sure, we never made it that far haha.
I live in Jersey City and sent my son to a Catholic preschool. It wasn't a good fit for him and the administration... lacked compassion as ironic as that sounds. I personally don't think we will try Catholic again Many of my son's classmates left after one year. Other parents who stayed told me they planned to take the kids out after a certain grade due to the religious education aspect.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that most Catholic schools increase the religious studies grade by grade. I think OLC has a formula like add 10 minutes per day per grade or something. In my son's preschool, the religious aspect really kicks in for age 4--they start reciting the rosary and hailing Mother Mary and stuff. So a friend who was Christian was really bothered by that emphasis and left the school.
Most of the Catholic schools in Jersey City have open enrollment for lower grades--no testing required as long as there is a spot.
Thanks for sharing your experience MrsPiggleWiggle
I did check the website of schools like Our Lady Of Czestochowa, St.Nicholas School, Primary Prep Elementary School, Hooboken Catholic academy & St. Aloysius Elementary School in JC & Hoboken, and what I couldnt understand how much eager they will be to take my child considering the fact that when we land in JC their admission season is already over!
Also regarding religious studies.....how stringent are they in testing them?? Do they detain kids if they dont pass religion test?
We are scared to take such chances because as a fallback option the public schools are so lowly rated that they become a complete No-No!
Even if the schools were rated 6-7 I would have considered for a year atleast and then again shift somewhere else for better schools but most of them are rated in 2s and 3s!
Can anyone else share their insights also? Or should be consider moving elsewhere where the commute to JC/Weehawken/Manhattan will be less than 1hour! Please suggest those neighbourhoods.
In the long run we will buy a coop in Upper east/Upper west in a few years time & DH can also shift his job location to Manhattan (that will solve our school problem) but before that I was wondering where all in NJ we can live initially!
If your child is 5, then live in the boundaries for PS16 in Paulus Hook, Jersey City. That is a good school, I'm just not sure if there is guaranteed enrollment.
I went to a JC Catholic school when I was at the elementary school level (this is decades ago). Our Lady of Victories. Even back then, the student population was very diverse. Italian, Irish, Polish, Black, Filipino, East Indian, West Indian, Latino, Egyptian, Korean. Not everyone was actually Catholic. I don't even think all of the Italian and Irish kids were Catholic. My family is not Catholic either (we are vanilla Christians...Presbyterian on one side, and Protestant on the other side, with a smattering of Agnostic, and one hippie Aunt who is Buddhist).
The Catholic schools are not going to discriminate against your child, or treat him any differently, because of race or religion.
The last couple years of elementary school my parents had moved us to one of the excellent-school-system suburbs further west, and I was enrolled in the public schools.
At the elementary school level (you are planning on buying a co-op on the Upper East/West Side within the next few years, so your oldest kid would only be at the elementary school level), the only real difference I remember between my Catholic school years and my public school years was that in Catholic school, I had to learn & memorize, and recite everyday, the Lord's Prayer ("Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy name..." ...haha...I haven't been to church in years, but I still have that prayer memorized.) I also learned then about making the sign of the cross.
And our teacher took us on a little walking field trip to the Our Lady of Victories church up the road on Kennedy Blvd. There, a priest taught us about Eucharist/Holy Communion.
And of course we had to wear uniforms, which, actually, I liked...navy blue plaid skirt/jumper, pale yellow Peter Pan-collared blouse, navy blue v-neck cardigan/sweater, black Buster Brown Mary Janes, and itchy wool navy blue tights from hell (the tights were the only thing I hated...other than that, I actually liked my uniform).
But, in my opinion, if we are talking about the elementary school level, you shouldn't really worry too too much about quality of schools. I have cousins who went to JC public schools. I can't remember the P.S. numbers...but a couple went to the one on Bergen Ave. near JSQ, across the street from the C-Town. At the middle and high school levels, they were in public schools out in the burbs. They did just fine. But the user j0nx above has posted specifically about PS16 being good, so I'd look into that.
Another NJ public school option would be maybe Maplewood/South Orange. Good public schools, and not too too far west. A 1-hour driving commute to JC & Weehawken from there is definitely possible, I think. Also maybe possible to Midtown, give or take a few minutes (as long as you're not on the East Side by Grand Central or too far uptown above 33rd).
I'm not sure, though, about your rent budget (1500-2000 for 1 or 2 bedroom apartment). Your choices are going to be limited, at least at the $1500 end of the spectrum, if you we talking about any of the places you short listed in Hudson County, as well as my suggestion of Maplewood/South Orange.
Thanks for sharing your experience MrsPiggleWiggle
I did check the website of schools like Our Lady Of Czestochowa, St.Nicholas School, Primary Prep Elementary School, Hooboken Catholic academy & St. Aloysius Elementary School in JC & Hoboken, and what I couldnt understand how much eager they will be to take my child considering the fact that when we land in JC their admission season is already over!
Also regarding religious studies.....how stringent are they in testing them?? Do they detain kids if they dont pass religion test?
We are scared to take such chances because as a fallback option the public schools are so lowly rated that they become a complete No-No!
Even if the schools were rated 6-7 I would have considered for a year atleast and then again shift somewhere else for better schools but most of them are rated in 2s and 3s!
Can anyone else share their insights also? Or should be consider moving elsewhere where the commute to JC/Weehawken/Manhattan will be less than 1hour! Please suggest those neighbourhoods.
In the long run we will buy a coop in Upper east/Upper west in a few years time & DH can also shift his job location to Manhattan (that will solve our school problem) but before that I was wondering where all in NJ we can live initially!
Please Help!!
You will need to call the schools about 4-6 weeks before your planned move and ask if they have spots. Right now, most classes will be full and understandably the school cannot give you any commitments, but people move during the school year and you may be lucky. I know in my son's preschool class, of the original 18 in September, there were maybe 11 left in May? They enrolled 7 more kids as spots opened up.
You can also check out the private schools (non-religious). For example, there are several Montessori schools that go up to grade 8. Hoboken also has several private schools.
I always say its okay because everyone is Catholic no matter what background, ethnicity or other religions you may be.
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Many of my son's classmates left after one year. Other parents who stayed told me they planned to take the kids out after a certain grade due to the religious education aspect. 
