Locals denied kindergarten seats
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Elissa Gootman writes today about families whose kids didn’t get kindergarten seats in their local schools, a block and a half from home. We’re also hearing from parents whose children haven’t been offered seats in nearby schools — and, in District 28 in Queens, of students offered kindergarten seats at two elementary schools (which is a byproduct of the new system, since parents are able to apply to any number of schools and each school handles its own admissions offers).
DOE spokesman Andy Jacob says that families should wait until September — a comment that seems a little cavalier on the surface, as families who’ve been in the kindergarten search mode for many months will take little comfort in waiting another two seasons. But, Jacob adds, “the bottom line is schools have to accommodate all of their zoned students, unless they work out a capping plan with us, and that happens in September.” So far, Gootman reports, 34 schools outside Manhattan have capped their kindergarten enrollment. It’s not known how many more will say “enough” — or if the capping trend will extend to Manhattan, where schools have never, according to Jacob, previously capped their kindergarten registers.
The landscape is additionally complicated by zoning questions — some areas that once had zoned elementaries no longer do, other neigh borhoods have seen a new school open without rezoning the surrounding blocks. The basic question — whether the DOE’s standardized kindergarten enrollment process makes sense — remains open. Let’s hope that city families won’t have to wait until September for that answer, too.
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Regarding district 28 in Queens- in the PS196 zone there are students who were offered spots in two schools. This is where PS303 was created (hearsay has it) to alleviate the overcrowding at 196. PS303 gave priority to those zoned for PS196; the schools processed their applications separately, so some applicants did receive offers to both 196 and 303. In this same zone there are also those who did not receive placement at either school.
Saying parents can wait until September for placement is callous on the part of the DoE, unneccessarily stressful for the parents, and means that the child will most likely miss the first day of school.
I am considered fortunate to have received a spot. However, instead of walking my child to a school 2 blocks away I will have to place her on a long bus ride to what would have been my second choice.
Comment by DI — March 24, 2009 @ 10:00 am
Can you explain what happens for kids not given a seat for k in their zoned school in first grade?
Comment by midtown mom — March 24, 2009 @ 11:01 am
DOE explanation for “what happens in first grade to the kids not given a seat in K for their zoned school? would likely be “just wait”. It seems to be their response to everything.
Comment by BoysMom — March 24, 2009 @ 12:55 pm
The scenario of families being offered more than one seat extends beyond the 196/303 situation. The process was created to generate precisely this phenomenon all over the city, since the city permitted applications to as many schools as desired and left it to the schools to determine enrollment without any coordination or cooperation. Moreover, the application processes varied considerably (e.g., 101 required completion of about 25 forms plus an additional meeting with an enrollment person just to apply). There’s no reason to put families and children through such anxiety, and for families with children already enrolled in pre-k at the school it is a terrible way to build community (or, put more precisely, it is a great way to ruin the community already built).
Comment by Caren — March 24, 2009 @ 2:55 pm
As a mother with a child on the kindergarten waitlist in her zoned school, I am upset about more than the “wait until September” comment. How was it determined that my child was placed on a waitlist? I “pre-registered” in January. At that time, I was told that it is not first come, first serve - that all children may be pre-registered until March 16th. At that time, if necessary, a lottery would be held.
Here are my questions: was there a lottery? who supervised it? when was it done? how was it done? where is my child on the waitlist? If indeed there is overcrowding, shouldn’t it be done fairly and openly?
By the way, the letter sent out to inform me that there was no room for my child was nothing short of insensitive.
Finally, if my child is taken off the waitlist, will I be accommodated for anything I may miss, such as orientation, tours, afterschool priority, etc.?
Comment by confusedbynycdoemom — March 25, 2009 @ 9:27 am
I also have the same questions as confusedbynycdoemom. When there are not enough seats to fill the demand and there is a lottery, there needs to be more transparency in the lottery process, to ensure that all procedures are followed fairly and that all children are given equal chance to secure a seat. I heard of one case for Pre-K where the Parent Coordinator was the person to write the child’s name on a piece of paper, fold the paper and place it in a container. Sounds fine, but some parents observed that the Parent Coordinator folded some paper many times into a small piece, and other paper with just twice so that the piece of paper was clearly a different size. The Parent Coordinator was also the same person to pull the pieces of paper with the names out of the container in the lottery which was held in the school’s auditorium. Not surprisingly, the child of a parent who has personal issues with the Parent Coordinator did not get a seat in the school. Politics abound everywhere.
Comment by parent — March 25, 2009 @ 10:01 am