Sunday, June 8

Turn Up the Heat


Rally today at 1pm at City Hall, organized by Council Member David Weprin of Queens and joined by Council colleagues and parents citywide to protest pre-K admissions -- and omissions.

Bring kids, signs, and lots of water -- and plan on extra travel time, especially if you're coming from uptown, as the Puerto Rican Day Parade celebrates on Fifth.

Eyes and ears on the ground, let us know what you see and hear.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to post off topic, but has anyone received info on the Kindergarten G+T placements? This seems to have been lost in the shuffle of the middle school and pre-K mess-ups...

helen said...

9:47, have been and continue to press DOE for g+t info -- hope they will have something for us today. Please bear with; we hope to know more soon.

Anonymous said...

helen,

Yes, please, please get some info from DOE! I (and many many other moms) am going nuts over this. At least, please find out WHEN we are getting letter and BY WHEN we have to register. I assume there are a good number of families have a vacation plans already set, too...z

helen said...

I know the waiting is really horrific and wish I had something concrete to offer; I have asked many times over the past week but they've been overwhelmed with the immediate pre-K problems. They will, I'm sure, get back to us soon -- and be certain, I'll reach out again (and again) until we know what's doing. not much to hold onto in the moment, wish there was more...

Bronx_shrink said...

I received the following email from the DOE roughly 2 weeks after my appeal:

Dear Parent,

We understand how important pre-Kindergarten is to you. It is important to us too. That is why we have been taking the time to carefully consider every request we have received to verify claims and make adjustments where they are warranted. Because we want to look into individual cases, this process is lengthy. We appreciate your patience and ask you to be patient a little while longer. We hope to come to closure this week and will also provide direction to you regarding next steps.

In the meantime, those of you who did not receive a placement are eligible for Round II of pre-K admissions. This round will also include any parents whose applications were postmarked after the deadline and any parents who are new to New York City or who did not apply during the first round. If any parents choose not to accept the first round placement their children were offered, then they, too, have the option of participating in Round II to seek another placement. The second round will be launched on June 23. Applications and a list of available programs will be posted online. Parents who did not receive a match in Round I will have Round II applications mailed to them during the week of June 23.

More information on Round II will be available just before the June 23 launch.

One further clarification: many parents have asked about appeals. An appeal is only for those parents whose children RECEIVED a match that has now become problematic due to some extenuating circumstance. These appeals must be filed via e-mail to ES_Enrollment@schools.nyc.gov. After Round II concludes, we will answer the appeals.

Please e-mail us at ES_Enrollment@schools.nyc.gov if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Elizabeth Sciabarra
Chief Executive Officer

Huh? Why have I and so many other parents been getting a different message about appeals? So many parents essentially filed pointless appeals? Did they just tell us to appeal to appease us in the moment? Gotta love the DOE!

Bronx_shrink said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

This is in reference to Kindergarten G&T applications. This past Saturday morning I received a phone call from the DOE, telling me that my application had not been received. After I calmed down, I learned that I was not alone, so I suspect that many more will be receiving phone calls as the DOE tries to process all the applicants. My preferences were taken again by phone by a very polite employee, who told me that I should probably find out where my daughter will be going to school by mid-August. There goes my summer!

Anonymous said...

I received the same email -- I think it was just poorly written cuz it didn't make any sense. I think there may be some sleep deprivation going on.

Anonymous said...

The information from maruG made me worry about my application. Is there a phone # to call or email address to find out if DOE had received my application?

helen said...

Marug, I checked with DOE about your mid-August date and their press rep said that all decisions for existing applicants would be made this week. (Yours wasn't the only application that went awry in the mail...) If you got contact info for the person you spoke with at OSEPO, might be worth another call.