The Berg/Ross Family 
The Bertrand Family 
The Grant Family 
The Grophear Family 
The Legendre Family 
The Peoples Family 
The Phillips Family 
The Polson Family 
The Ponce Family 
The Rogers Family 
The Rousell Family 
The Rudder Family 
The Wyatt Family 
The Mattapan preschooler attends the YMCA’s Small Fry Nursery School program twice a week. But her parents fear the three-hour sessions are not enough to hold the academic attention of an energetic 3-year-old (soon-to-be 4) who’s already reading.
So, they’ve entered their only child into the Boston Public School lottery, hoping for a pre-kindergarten slot.
“She’s ready,” said Olayemi Phillips, 43, a stay-at-home mother who affectionately calls her daughter NiNi. “I feel like she needs more.’’
Phillips’s husband, Charles, a 20-year MBTA employee, left most of the pre-kindergarten decision-making to his wife. His one stipulation: The neighborhood must be safe. With that, Olayemi Phillips started the dizzying—and completely foreign—process of trying to register Nia for school.
“I had no idea that we would have to go through this. I wasn’t born here,” said the native of England who immigrated to Boston in 1995. “I worked as a nanny for a few years, and the families didn’t have to go through that. They just go off to a private school.”
She visited seven schools (some twice), applied to nine, and based her decisions on a mixture of research and intuition. Her second choice, Haley Elementary School in Roslindale, was a school she thought of as an eyesore but decided to check it out anyway.
“I just kind of passed by and didn’t like the look of it until I went to the school presentation,” she said. “I loved it! There was just a warm feeling when I walked in the door.”
But in the end, she knows all visits and research could be for naught. Four-year-olds aren’t guaranteed a spot in a Boston pre-kindergarten classroom. And so, they also applied to two charter schools, which also have lotteries.
Phillips is optimistic that something will come of a school waiting list that Nia inevitably will be put on or the preference given to students within a school’s walk-zone. But, she knows there’s a chance that Nia won’t be accepted at school.
And if that happens? “I don’t know just yet,” she said. Leaving Boston is not an option, and Phillips worries that another year of attending preschool for half a day won’t be rigorous enough.
But for now Phillips tries to push worry aside and focus on hope.
AKILAH JOHNSON
