The Department of Education is hosting meetings this week and next for families of incoming kindergartners who have been waitlisted at schools for next fall. At the meetings, to be held District 15 in Brooklyn and District 2 in Manhattan, two of the districts  with the most extensive waitlists, enrollment officials will give an overview of the admissions process,  discuss the status of waitlists, and clarify next steps.

Last weekmore than 2500 families found out they were on the waiting list for kindergarten at their zoned schools, a figure the DOE emphasized will decrease sharply over the spring and summer as families decide on other options, including charter schools or gifted and talented programs.

Still the process has been worrisome for many families new to public schools who often choose where they are going to live based on the school zone. That's particularly true in Brooklyn's District 15 where for the first time many popular schools are having to waitlist prospective kindergartners. There are waitlists at PS 29,  PS 39, PS 58, PS 107, PS 130, and 169 inSunset Park which, as of last week, had the longest list in the city.

There has already been movement at some schools. The waitlist of about 50 students at PS 107 was cut nearly in half when the school decided to make a pre-kindergarten classroom available for kindergarten and move the pre-K students elsewhere, City Councilmember Brad Landor's office reported.  (It's not clear where the pre-K will move yet.)

The District 15 meeting will be tonight, Thursday, at 6 p.m. at the John Jay High School building, 237 7th Avenue, between 4th and 5th Streets.

Next Monday, enrollment officials will meet with Upper East Side families in District 2 who have children on waitlists at schools such as PS 290, PS 59, PS 151, PS 158, and the brand new PS 267, among others in the district.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m., April 11  in the auditorium of Wagner Middle School at 220 East 76th Street.

Parents whose children are still waitlisted by the end of May will be given another placement as close to their zoned school as possible, according to DOE officials. They  may continue to stay on the waitlist even into the fall. Children are entitled to attend school the year they turn five, although they are not obligated to attend school until they turn 6.