Space for pre-kindergarten classes shut out of PS 3 and PS 11 in Greenwich Village because of kindergarten over-crowding will be available next fall at 27 Barrow Street, the home of the Barrow Street Nursery School, according to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Department of Education officials who have been working this week to finda home for the displaced students.

Speaking to an auditorium packed with parents at the District 2 Community Education Council meeting last night, John White, of the Department of Education, said that the siting is a temporary solution "that will allow the [kindergarten] waitlist to completely disappear." There are 79 kindergarteners now on the waitlist for the shared PS3/41 zone, he said, and moving the pre-K classes will allow one new class at PS 41 and two new classes at PS 3. White also anticipates that many of the 63 zoned students who qualified for gifted & talented programs would choose that option, freeing up more space in the crowded neighborhood schools.

Regarding a new site for a new PS 151, White indicated that the Our Lady of Good Counsel school would be the likely site; a formal announcement is expected on Monday.

White also said that new sites will be found for two middle schools now sharing elementary-school buildings, Greenwich Village Middle School and the Clinton School for Writers and Artists, for the 2010-2011 school year.

Parents fired questions at White and DOE enrollment chief Elizabeth Sciabarra about kindergarten waitlists and challenging DOE statistics. A CEC member asked parents: "Are you happy with what you are hearing tonight?" Parents, some carrying placards, responded with a resounding "NO!"<!--more-->

Several PS 3 parents expressed concerns about placing 50 additional kindergarteners in a building with "a serious rodent problem, a tiny cafeteria, and stairways that are dark and narrow." "What safety measures will you put into place," asked Shina Tanikawa, a CEC member and PS 3 parent.

Elizabeth Rose, PTA co-president of PS 183 on the Upper East Side, said she feared that the school's waitlist would grow beyond its present 35 as families moved into faculty housing for nearby Rockefeller University over the summer. "Last year we had to call in the police," she said, when families who tried to register their children in September refused to leave the school office. "What will the process be for full enrollment in the fall?" she asked.

In response, White said that one option would be to provide annexes to the schools in DOE space or assign the students to other district schools, in cases where zoned schools cannot accommodate all students. (Parents were not enthusiastic about these alternative proposals.)

Faced with a barrage of parent critique, DOE officials conceded that "we could do a better job of sharing information and getting information out there." At meeting's end, Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm responded to parent's earlier comment that no DOE official had apologized to parents for the uncertainty they are experiencing about where their children will attend school: "We're sorry," she said -- long-awaited words for parents who really want to hear where their children will be attending school and what the long-term solution for overcrowded schools in the district will be.