Greenpoint and Williamsburg are School District 14. Unlike Districts 1, 7 and 23, which have no zoned schools at all, District 14 has ordinary zones — so your address does determine something. Just less than people think.

Look it up

schoolsearch.schools.nyc — type in your home address. It returns your district and, if you have them, your zoned elementary and middle schools.

What "zoned" gets you, precisely

• First priority, not a seatThe Department's wording is that your child is "given first priority to attend it." Most zoned schools do make offers to everyone in the zone, and some have room for children outside it. That is a pattern, not a promise.
• You still have to applyRanking your zoned school first or twelfth makes no difference to your priority for it. But leaving it off the application entirely does.
• What is guaranteed is a seat somewhere"All five-year-old children are guaranteed an elementary school placement." Somewhere. Not necessarily yours.
• Waitlists are automaticYou are waitlisted for anything you ranked above the offer you got. Schools contact families directly when a seat opens.

Things that sit outside the zone system entirely

• Charter schoolsFree public schools run independently, admitted by lottery through their own process. Zoning does not apply.
• Gifted and TalentedScreened, listed on the kindergarten application or a separate application for grades 1–4. Zoning does not apply.
• Unzoned and choice programsAdmit district- or borough-wide on their own priority order: siblings first, then current pre-K students, then in-district.

The dates move every year

For the Fall 2026 cycle, kindergarten applications opened 10 December 2025, closed 23 January 2026, and offers came out 31 March 2026. Middle school opened 15 October 2025 and closed 12 December 2025. Every cycle is announced separately; the Department's own admissions guide leaves the deadline as a blank to be filled in. Check before you rely on a date.

Zone lines can change, and here is who changes them

Under Chancellor's Regulation A-185, the Community Superintendent proposes a change, the central enrollment office approves it, and then the Community Education Council — CEC 14 for us — votes. The CEC must vote within 45 days of a proposal reaching it. A parent association can appeal the decision to the Chancellor within 10 days.

That 45-day window is the whole reason to know CEC 14 exists before you need it.

• CEC 14cec14.org, meeting schedule at cec14.org/schedule.html
• In person215 Heyward Street, Brooklyn NY 11206
• By phone or email718-302-7624, cec14@schools.nyc.gov

311's own school-zone page carries the warning in plain terms: confirm with the school, because zoning may change for the coming year.

What no official source will tell you

Whether a rezoning is being discussed right now — that lives in CEC 14 meeting minutes, not in any database. How far a waitlist at a specific District 14 school actually moves between April and September. Which schools are over capacity enough that a rezoning becomes likely.

Where this came from

Checked 1 August 2026 against the NYC Public Schools Admissions Guide, the DOE school search tool, Chancellor's Regulation A-185 (issued 14 January 2005), cec14.org, NYC311, and DOE announcements of 15 October and 9 December 2025.