Very interesting results

There should have been a "I was born and/or raised but live elsewhere" option.

I lived in Newark, moved away, then came back for school while living elsewhere.

Been here 7 years. Own my one place but will almost certainly leave for the suburbs in a year or two so that my child can attend better public schools. Newark public schools from what I can tell are not going to improve anytime soon.

Some of the district schools are good and there are lots of good charters. We’re in the process of picking a school for our child now.

Maybe I’ll do a Google form type poll one day. Reddit only allows a few options and I came up with these on a whim.

There's also used to live/work/study in Newark and want to keep up with the city despite living elsewhere

Lived in Newark the same house my entire life but had to move to East Orange recently bc of a house fire. But will be moving back to Newark when we finally sell the property and buy a new home. (Looking at places around the South Orange/Irvington area.

Yeah…not surprised.

Wish I shared your optimism. We are in the ironbound now. Pre-school is good and o am told so is our zoned elementary, but beyond that; the stats look dismal to me. Numbers don’t lie. Low Reading and math attainment at grade level combined with high absenteeism is not a winning formula. Haven’t looked at charters so maybe that is an option.

Used to live in a town outside of Newark but things changed in my life and I ended up living in Newark.

I get it. The first thing is that you don’t need to send your kid to the “zoned” district school for your address. You can apply to any school in the city. To get an idea of the basic test scores for each district and charter you can start here: https://www.myschoolsnewark.org/

The state also has more comprehensive reports on each school relating to absenteeism, demographics, all kinds of stuff. Google NJ DOE school reports.

There are different applications though which is super annoying. The district schools have their own. Most of the charters have a common app but a bunch have their own individual lottery. We applied to seven schools through four applications and the drawings are at different times. It’s maddening.

If you’re in Ironbound, I would strongly consider The Gray as it’s just across 21. It’s likely where we’re sending our kid since they’re pretty deep on the wait list for Robert Treat which would be much more convenient for us. There’s also another Robert Treat campus in downtown that I know people like.