DOE investigating pre-K problems as parents worry
The DOE hasn't commented on the scope of problems with pre-K admissions letters -- no matter that one Insideschools blog reader hypothesized that the problems are "HUGE" -- but officials are saying they are investigating every complaint they receive. So if you believe your child was mistakenly denied a seat in a pre-K program, contact OSEPO, the central enrollment office, at 212-374-2363.
What's not clear to me is whether any families have been offered seats at the Brooklyn schools that seem to have been affected. If they have, will the DOE be able to reverse erroneous rejections? Or will all of the seats that should have gone to in-zone siblings already be filled?
22 comments:
No one has received an acceptance letter. I have been told they may not know by end of day, but their analytics team is looking into it.
So far I know of PS 10, 282, & 154 were this has happened. Acceptance lists haven't gone out to schools as planned so they can't cross reference yet.
Once again absolute lack of communication, but lots of misinformation. Way to go Bloomberg you media mogul you!
As of last night 261 had not received a student list either...everyone I know at our school that received a letter was rejected. And of all those , every single one was a sibling both zoned and out of zoned.
I don't think the problem is just in Brooklyn - I think that's just who is posting to the blogosphere.
Do you know if they'll give an answer if you call for people who haven't received any kind of letter? Does anyone know anyone who has gotten an acceptance letter, from any school? It would be pretty funny if the algorithm rejected everyone. That's one way to cut back on expenses.
I have twins. On of our twins was accepted to ps3. one was not accepted anywhere! the doe documentation clearly states that twins will be treated as a unit - both in or both out. what a mess
I am zoned for PS 158, which is directly opposite my apartment. I can't believe that my son did not get accepted into the pre-K program. I heard of kids being accepted based on the sibling rule who do NOT even live in Manhattan far less being zoned for the school. This is outrageous! I am very upset to have received a rejection letter, especially since I cannot afford to send my son to one of the fancy Upper East side private pre-K schools. Where is the fairness in this process???
To the person with twins: when did you receive the acceptance letter? After you got the rejection letter?
Anon 2:34-
Same here. One twin & one out. Where is PS3?
Sorry, but it doesn't work that way. Many can't afford it. Living across the street doesn't give you an advantage. Good luck.
Did you get your acceptance letter today?
PS 3 is in Tribeca. Gets an 8 on Greatschools rating, so clearly an in-demand school. I'm not sure if it's the same one with all the flack about overcrowding.
PS101 parents in Queens got rejection letters a few days ago. Acceptance letters were received today. Some siblings got in, and some didn't.
What is the DOE going to do to remedy this situation? Unaccept students?
Did any non sibs at 101 get in, while sibs were rejected.
The problem is a certain type of parent who usually resides in Park Slope or Williamsburg, and likes to talk of gentrification, while feeling down for living in the hood is taking your places in Districts 1, 2, and even some who don't belong in 15 out of their crazy sense of entitlement. They wanted it like this and now everybody is going to scramble including them. Way to go!
Huh?
you would have to live in Brooklyn to really understand.
I can't comment on the "Park Slope/Williamsburg-Parents" mentioned previously. I know that I am just a concerned mom in the Bronx who worked awfully hard to get my son into a solid school 4 years ago. It happened to be in District 3 because the ONLY G&T program in my district (10, Bx) refused to even look at my son's fantastic IQ test scores because we were not zoned for that school! At that time, district 3 was accepting kids from other districts. Years later, I am simply trying to place my preschooler at the school my son and I have both grown to love. My zoned school (which is quite awful as is my gang-ridden neighborhood) doesn't even have a pre-k class! For the poster who wrote "way to go!", shame on you for your insensitivity. You assume that all of us who post lamenting rejection letters are part of the rising elite who "appear" to be taking over the city. You are so wrong.
PS3 in Manhattan is in Greenwich Village (Hudson St.), not Tribeca. PS3 in Brooklyn is in Bedford-Stuyvesant, at the corner of Franklin Ave. and Jefferson Ave.
Why take a seat from a kid that belongs in that seat because they are zoned to go there simply because you are not willing to invest the time and energy into making your zoned school as good as theirs. Shame on you
with all due respect to all of the families who posted here and who are struggling to find quality education--in your neighborhood or not-- for thier children, i feel your pain. our family was welcomed with a variance 4 years ago for my older child, into a great school that was attempting to draw strong families from all over brooklyn. we never really expected to get a spot for our 4 year old now, as pre-k spots were traditionally filled by zoned kids, rightfully so. but when the DOE changes the policy, to give siblings preference, and institutes a streamlined process to do so, we have every right to expect a spot. having been a part of a community that we have worked so hard to make dynamic, it is a slap in the face that we are denied a spot. to the poster who said "shame on you...not willing to invest time and energy...in your zoned school", i strongly disagree--we have invested time, money and energy into our schools.
whether around the corner or not, we have invested in our children's education. shame on the DOE, the BOE, bloomberg and klein for not investing time, money and energy into our neighborhood schools. shame on you for not getting it... the families are not at fault here, and once again are being pitted against each other --we are not each others enemy.
we need help across economic, social and geographic lines to solve this problem.
Wow to the insensitive person with "time and energy" comment. The very fact that a parent is worried about her child's education and even reading these boards is significant. To have to be subjected to such cold-heartedness is simply unfair. I came to this site for help and sympathy with other parents who only want the best for their children and will do everything in their power to make it happen, not for closed-minded commentary about how hard someone works for their kid. Please keep that to yourself. I'm from the Bronx and my parents had to work to get me into better schools too. It gets the short end of the deal every time. I can relate. Good luck to everyone in this totally insane blender of a system.
Well said Audra and dubiabest. And we parents shouldn't be turning on one another as ultimately we all want the same thing, safe, high quality, and engaging public schools for our kids. NYC is too damn expensive for us to not have that!
bronx shrink (and everyone else) i saw your very practical and logical post abt the vouchers--RIGHT ON! this is a solution that would certainly work for me personally, and i would take a voucher for the $20,000 plus it would cost us to have our daughter in her beloved pre-school, without hesitation!
bravo for thinking outside this scary box... we need more like this. i would propose (as our principal already has) creating a third pre-k at our school for siblings. this great idea was shot down by DOE due to lack of funds, of course. BTW, i checked our address on the "blue card" at school and of course, it is outdated, as we like so many brooklynites have moved since 2004. oddly, i have received mail from school at our "new" address... but i am convinced that this address issue is why the system did not recognize the siblings.
i recommend that all check addresses, if you have not done so.
I agree that there is really no need to judge the other parents as to whether they are zoned or not. I am at a school that has a lot of 151 assigned students and I have to say that a lot of the 151 parents are very involved. On the other hand, a lot of the zoned families don't go to the PTA meetings and/or are active at all. We are all parents here. We need to address the problems with DOE, not judge each other.
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