why millenium didn't take brooklyn kids last year

Lisa Bowstead of Big Fish Tutoring (tons of great services, check her out) wrote this clear and accurate explanation of what happened with Brooklyn kids applying to Millennium last year on PSP and allowed me to reprint it here. If you are sad that it seems to be an opportunity that is no longer open to Brooklyn kids because of the vagarities of the number of applicants, I would make your feelings known to the people below.

The priority for selection of students has never changed 

for Millennium HS: 

   1. Lower Manhattan

   2. Manhattan

   3. The rest of NYC

Historically, 30% of Millennium HS freshman class has been from Brooklyn. Given the school's close proximity to many Brooklyn neighborhoods, this was a natural occurrence.

In last year's freshman class, the percentage of Brooklyn residents in the entering class dropped significantly. The reason for this was a sudden increase in applicants from Manhattan who filled the spots before Brooklyn residents were even considered. 

Millennium HS has asked the DOE to remove the criteria which puts Manhattan ahead of all other boroughs. I have just confirmed with Millennium HS that the DOE has yet to grant/implement this change. 

This should be a simple data update... so what's the delay?

If you would like to expedite the removal of Manhattan as a priority over other boroughs for Millennium HS applicants,

please contact:

Millennium HS, your middle school, the DOE, your local City Council person, Millennium HS's City Council person, and/or your other local representatives.  

Lisa@BigFishTutoring.com

"Be the big fish in your pond." 

mom to a rising 10th grader at Millennium HS 

and Brooklyn Resident

twinsburg, ohio

Why drive 8 hours one way to the suburbs of Cleveland? - for the largest gathering of twins in the world. This trip has been my girls' dream for years and this summer they finally got us to agree by saying that they would use it as a topic for their college essays. They know how to deal with us. We figured it would be a silly goof of a weekend. I believe that they will probably attend every year from now on if they can.

On one side it is a small town fair; hot dogs, a couple of rides, a bouncy castle, a parade with antique fire trucks and a talent show. On the other, it is over 2000 sets of twins, triplets and quads of all ages, races, shapes and sizes, gathering for 3 days of unqualified understanding, comraderie and silly fun. I have rarely seen my kids as happy. In normal life, even in twin filled Brooklyn, they are oddities. "Who is older?" and "who is the evil twin?" are the first two questions that they are always asked. They occasionally enjoy the attention but it can also be a burden. During Twins Days they are the normal ones (we singletons are the misfits). Everyone gets it. Everyone has a bond that has no age, race or philosophical differences. It is a beautiful thing.

Side note: they will want you to know that they are not in any of these pictures although they did dress alike and had their picture taken by a National Geographic photographer (watch for the twins edition in Nov. 2011)