Pre-K out, K in, at PS 3 and PS 41
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The students waitlisted for kindergarten at Manhattan schools PS 3 and PS 41 will be able to register at one of these schools for class this September — but the pre-K students promised seats for next year will not be able to attend the schools. PS 3 and PS 41 have been directed to close their pre-K classes to make room for more kindergarten students.
“We canceled our pre-K,” said a staff member at PS 41, who asked not to be named. “It was a decision made with the DOE…We had no choice. The space is so limited, and the kindergarten kids needed space. That’s the decision that was made.”
Principal Lisa Siegman of PS 3 said that she did not have any official confirmation. Unlike pre-K students, who stay in their classroom, kindergarten students move to the cafeteria, gym, and other specialty classrooms. Siegman expressed safety concerns, citing crowding, a complicated split-lunch schedule, and other logistical difficulties that may result from increasing the number of kindergarten classes.
PS 41 began to make calls to parents of pre-K students, who now have to scramble for pre-K seats in nearby public schools or find scarce (and costly) spots at private pre-Ks. “We got word, and we got on the phone,” the PS 41 staffer said. “We would love to have some solution or options for our families.”
DOE sources say they plan to release more news in the next few hours with “very specific details about the wait lists in Districts 2 and 3.” Stay tuned for updates.
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Fine time to make this decision. Makes me scratch my head…..
Comment by AriannaFan — May 5, 2009 @ 2:50 pm
I, for one, am HUGELY relieved!! The idea of my daughter, who will still be 4 in September, riding on a bus to who-knows-where had me really upset. I could do cartwheels knowing she can go to school in our zone.
Comment by anon — May 5, 2009 @ 2:58 pm
WOW! I sure am glad that I do not live in District 2 or 3 with a child entering Pre-K.
Comment by DH — May 5, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
It’s a solution for now. But what about when there are just as many K kids next year? How do more classes per grade continue to fit in 41/3 as they move up through the grades?
Comment by fascinated — May 5, 2009 @ 3:30 pm
While this is a good move to handle the Kindergarten kids this year, what will happen when these children move up into higher grades? More Kindergarteners this year means more 1st graders next year, and so on. The DOE better move quickly to move GVMS to make room for the enlarged elementary school size next year.
Comment by Disrict2Mom — May 5, 2009 @ 3:31 pm
I don’t understand how anyone had a pre-k placement at either school for next year. I was told placements wouldn’t be mailed until May 15th. I, for one, am currently waiting for my child’s pre-k placement.
Comment by Anonymous — May 5, 2009 @ 4:14 pm
This is total mismanagement anyone who has a pre-k application in district 2 should ban together for a class action law suit. The ripple effect of this decision will be felt throughout the district. Instead of trying to make an excess of students fit into the same number of classrooms they have to create more space. The Mayor is responsible. I cannot see giving this man another term to stagnate the DOE while he welcomes developers with open arms.
Comment by Anonymous — May 5, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
All of the seats at P.S. 11 are going to siblings. That is 3 schools that will have no pre-k. I guess the DOE is going to fill P.S. 33 by hook or crook.
Comment by Anonymous — May 5, 2009 @ 5:34 pm
I guess they just want people without money for private school to leave the city.
Comment by Anonymous — May 5, 2009 @ 5:41 pm
To # 6 they must be referring to siblings who are 1st to get the seat in the school.
Comment by Anonymous — May 5, 2009 @ 5:43 pm
This is not a solution. It’s just shifting the problem around. The DOE is covering its you know what, and even though my son is on the wait list, I feel terrible for Pre-K families and not even relieved. The overcrowding isn’t being addressed. The welfare of families isn’t being addressed. Quality of education isn’t being addressed. All the DOE is doing is stressing schools more. It’s now pitting Pre-K families against K families. It’s just another bomb.
Comment by anonymous — May 5, 2009 @ 8:05 pm
The Political Advocacy Committees of PS 3 and PS 41 tried to call DOE’s attention to incipient overcrowding at hearings with our community board over a year ago. We presented them with a list of over a dozen potential sites for schools. Moving a (temporarily placed) middle school out of the top floor of PS 3 and finding it space to grow and provide more middle school seats for D2 was one option they chose to ignore. As the situation grew more dire, they ignored a number of suggestions for creating satellite ECCs to accommodate the overflow. Now they are thrusting these kids, who were once thought to be too many to be accommodated by the zone, back into our schools. NYC parents should see these maneuvers for what they are: the willful dismissal of the needs of kids for some kind of obscure ideological purpose. We have to demand a more realistic capital plan and a fuller voice for parents in governance, if bureaucrats are going to handle it so incompetantly.
Comment by Ann Kjellberg — May 6, 2009 @ 2:03 am
As a PS3 parent I do wonder where they are going to put these K/1 (it’s combined grades at 3) classrooms? The bigger preK room, which now houses the full day program, is large enough (although far removed from the other classrooms in the building). But, the half-day classroom is by no means big enough for 24+ children — it barely fits 18 4-yos, teacher and assistant. They would have to get rid of the bathrooms on that floor to make that smaller room big enough.
Comment by anonymous — May 6, 2009 @ 11:54 am
Is this confirmed or just a rumor. I can’t see even the DOE acting so irresposibly. How to they justify cutting pre-k because it’s not required? Is K reequired? there are a whole lot of children being left behind here if this is true!
Comment by Anonymous — May 6, 2009 @ 4:10 pm
Just had to add my two cents to this one; everyone needs to leave well enough alone giving the parents the choice/ the opportunity to enroll their kindergarten age child in either a Public School or CBO (community based organization funded for kindergarten through the Agency for Child Development). Additionally UPK needs to be just that UNIVERSAL funded for either 2.5 hours for every four year old child or a full day for every four year old child, this disparity of some districts/regions providing full day while others do not should not be acceptable. Children are precious jewels and must be treated as such there are enough Public Schools and Child Care Centers to provide care and education for all if the funding is distributed equally amongst all who provide services to these our most precious jewels, our children
Comment by Annonymous — May 13, 2009 @ 6:25 pm