Kindergarten limbo continues
Journalist and occasional Insideschools blogger Lauren Young comments on kindergarten admissions:
What if your child didn’t get into kindergarten at your local public school? As reported here, the waiting list for a spot at highly lauded P.S. 41 or P.S. 3 has reached 90 children. My son’s best friend Ben is among those shut out in the West Village; he’s No. 79 on the wait list. Ben’s mom is worried that he will start asking if he did something “wrong” because he wasn’t accepted to kindergarten at P.S. 41. “I so resent New York for all this,” she says. “They’ll place him ‘somewhere,’ but…I just don’t want him ‘somewhere,’ you know? Ugh.” The problem seems most severe on the Upper East Side, where 350 children cannot get into kindergarten at their local schools, according to Class Size Matters. and Department of Education planners are considering siting a new kindergarten in the basement of a crowded, popular East Side middle school.
On Tuesday, May 5 at 3:30 pm, Ben’s mom and other concerned parents will rally on the steps of City Hall to protest school overcrowding. (The rally is sponsored by Class Size Matters, Manhattan Task Force on School Overcrowding, Community Education Council of District 2, Parent Leaders of Upper East Side Schools, Public School Advocacy Committee, Community Board 2 and other groups.)
This madness probably feels familiar to veterans of New York City’s preschool admissions scramble. Indeed, Nursery University is a new movie about the insanity of landing a coveted spot at a desirable private-school, pre-kindergarten program. (It’s more competitive than getting accepted to an Ivy League school!) I see a sequel in the works: Kindergarten Wars, coming to theaters, and Netflix queues, all too soon.
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The rally date is now WEDNESDAY, May 6th at 4pm. Come one, come all!!!
Comment by Elizabeth Rose — April 29, 2009 @ 10:59 am
I’m in the middle of shooting a film called The Kindergarten Shuffle. You’re welcome to shoot me an e-mail about it. We’ll probably be at the rally with a couple of cameras if all goes well.
Comment by Douglas Morse — April 29, 2009 @ 9:32 pm
I feel that America spents so much money on nonsense and investing time, money an energy over seas, and yet forgetting the children of America, education begins early in life, and our children are not getting the proper education. And now this, children on a waiting list for kindergarten, this is sad and pathetic.
Comment by Elsa Lozano — April 30, 2009 @ 9:53 am
Is there interest in starting a class action suit against the DOE for negligence. I believe there is a case because any urban planning expert will tell you that you need to built more schools when you build as many new housing units as were built in the last few years. How could the city keep handing out building permits without regard to basic services to support these new units.
Comment by Concerned Parent — April 30, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
The issue is also about Pre-K students who are in the school being told to reapply as a formality and then being rejected for kindergarten and the waiting list. 17 out of 36 Pre-K students in our school in the East Village were not admitted to the kindergarten and not put on the waiting list. Same day as rally at city hall there is a rally at 9:00 am at the neighborhood school on east 3rd between Ave A and 1st and all politicians/news outlets have been invited so every pissed off parent is welcome.
Comment by PreKMom — May 1, 2009 @ 9:29 am
Would it be possible for PS41/3 to offer a “second shift” of kindergarten? (e.g., move the first shift up to 8am-noon, and offer a second kindergarten day from 1pm to 5pm?)
Comment by Anon — May 4, 2009 @ 11:15 pm
This is obviously a very frustrating situation: to work hard to find housing for your family in a neighborhood, and then be told the neighborhood school might not be open to your child.
Are any parents affected by this waiting list limbo involved with home school cooperatives in Manhattan? Those could be interesting and stimulating groups to join, and they could help in a practical way by providing shared responsibility for early childhood education.
Comment by Dave Mandel — May 7, 2009 @ 9:42 am