BROOKLYN KINDERGARTEN WAITLIST

To Whom it May Concern,

Forty-nine children, including our child, were waitlisted for Kindergarten at PS107. We have ben presented with no neighborhood alternatives. We have been told not to bother applying to the other local schools since they also have waitlists. Not in their "zone," we would have an even worse chance than at our own school.

Receiving this devastating information as we have at this late date, weve missed registration deadlines for other public and private schools. But most of us cant afford the few private options in Brooklyn anyway. Many of us own our homes, some for more than ten years, so we can not easily move or rent an apartment in another neighborhood as some of our friends are reluctantly doing. Nor should we have to. It is a travesty that so many families that have invested in this neighborhood and make it a wonderful place to live are in this horrible predicament.

How could the school/Board of Ed not anticipate this problem? If there was a waitlist last year, why did they not prepare and communicate a community contingency plan? What's more:

(1) How was the "who gets in to Kindergarten, who doesn't" list determined?
(2) Why werent we warned?
(3) What are our options if other local schools are also not available to our child?
(4) How is it PS 107 is able to offer a Pre-K class while turning away zoned children for mandated kindergarten?

Parents applying for Pre-K know their chances are slim, so, just in case, they make alternate plans, among them the affordable private pre-schools in the neighborhood. For five year olds there are NO options in the neighborhood. Unlike with Pre-K, none of us were aware there might be a Kindergarten waitlist, so no one we know was alerted to apply elsewhere or worry about this inevitability. Why not consider turning the Pre-K class (at this point a luxury) into a Kindergarten class before turning away one zoned Kindergarten student? If space is an issue, classes can be held at the YMCA which has several empty rooms during weekdays.

Who else should we contact to resolve this issue so our children can begin their public school educations in the neighborhoods where they are growing up?

Concerned and disappointed,

Jennifer Parsons & Nate Chura
Parents of Emerson (waitlisted)

Leslie & Jim Demarco
Parents of Avery (waitlisted)