Hi, I’m Julia. I turn school data into the right fit.

By day, I teach in an NYC public school. By evening (and plenty of weekends) I help families figure out one of the most confusing admissions processes in the country: getting a kid into a NYC public high school.

I built Next Stop: High School because I kept watching smart, devoted parents drown in the same maze: screened programs, specialized exams, Ed Opt lotteries, audition schools, priority zones, and a portal full of terms nobody defines. The families who could afford private consultants got guides. Everyone else got forum threads and rumors.

That never sat right with me. The knowledge parents need isn’t secret. It just lives inside the system, with the people who work there. I’m one of those people. I see how admissions actually functions from the educator’s side of the desk, this year, not the way it worked a decade ago.

What I bring to your kitchen table (via Zoom)

I’m a current NYC public school educator with special education expertise, so if your family is navigating an IEP or 504 plan, you won’t need to explain the basics to me, and I can talk honestly about program fit in a way most consultants can’t. The numbers are the easy part: anyone can look up seats, demand, and scores. My job is matching that data with what I actually know about these schools, how they feel, how they support kids, and who thrives there, so your list lands on the right fit for your kid instead of the best-looking row in a spreadsheet.

And I’m a person, not a service desk. Sessions sound like a knowledgeable friend talking you through it, because that’s what this is supposed to be.