Sixty-five families whose children werewaitlisted for kindergarten slots next fall at two popular District 3 schools, PS 87 andPS 199, got unexpected and ultimately inaccurate news about their kindergarten placement this week. The families received letters postmarked May 15 offering them spots at their zoned schools (PS 199 or PS 87), only to be followed, in some cases, by phone calls from the DOE indicating the letters were a mistake and the offers should have been to PS 452.

According to an admissions policyannounced in late March,PS 452, a new school created to ease over-crowding on the Upper West Side schools, is slated to accept 55 students from 87's waitlist and 10 students from 199's waitlist.

"Families are being notified via email and hard-copy mail of their alternate offer to PS 452. We regret the error and are making sure that every affected family knows of their alternate offer to PS 452," said Department of Education spokesman, Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld.

Scott Parker, PS 452's founding principal, now assistant principal at PS 199, told Insideschools.org that he is aware of the problem but can't contact accepted families because he does not have a student roster yet. Unlike established, neighborhood schools that have offices and dedicated staff to manage kindergarten admissions lists, all enrollment for new schools is done centrally.

PS 452 is hosting information sessions tonight, May 18 and Tuesday, June 1. Both sessions start at 6 p.m. and will be held in the school's auditorium located at 100 West 77th Street.

Kim Cobb, director of elementary school enrollment, at the Department of Education will speak at tonight's information session which is open to all interested community members.

We've asked the DOE for the latest data on kindergarten waitlists. According to Zarin-Rosenfeld, updated information will be available later in the week. For more information, see the DOE's Q&A about kindergarten admissions. It states that "alternative offers" will be sent this week to families which are still waitlisted for kindergarten.