For the second year in a row, children have been placed on waitlists for kindergarten placement. Over 112 public schools have waitlists, with over 2,000 children left without placement and parents worried their four- and five-year-olds will be sent to schools far from home. One parent told the NY Times, "I am trying to find out what I am supposed to do and what our options are, but I really feel helpless."
P.S. 87 on the Upper West Side has the largest waiting list of 125 students, and P.S. 6 on the Upper East Side has a waitlist of 76, according to the Post. Noah Gotbaum, president of the Community Education Council in District 3 (Upper West Side) said, "the whole planning system is broken...If you're a parent of a [prospective] kindergartner at PS 87 and you don't have siblings already in the school, you have a one in three chance of getting in." Many are blaming the city for not estimating the education needs of these highly populated areas. Gail Brewer, a city councilwoman, told the Times, "It’s just hitting us like ton of bricks, but there were people who predicted this months ago."
The city is looking for ways to absorb the extra students, though the solutions may end up harming school quality. Waitlisted students are generally put through a lottery to get into their zoned school, but The Daily News reports that DOE officials are looking to open up new schools in "hot spots" like the UWS and Corona, Queens. They also plan to increase kindergarten classes in the waitlist schools from 20 to 25, eliminate rooms for tutoring and reduce the number of sections for the upper grades. That could affect high school enrollment, especially at a time when many eighth graders are waiting to hear about their high school assignments.
