Public PreK Deadlines Up Now!
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Joyce Szuflita, of NYC School Help is our School Expert and always has the scoop on what’s going on with schools. Joyce sent me an email early this morning with the just-announced deadlines from the DOE. She also breaks any school news on her blog here so make sure you check it out and sign up for her newsletter that gives you the full scoop!
From Joyce:
Round 1 Public Prekindergarten deadlines are now up on the DOE’s website.
March 5, 2012 the application period begins. That means that the directories will be available online and at your local school (if they have a prek class). You can begin the registration process online.
April 6, 2012 is the deadline to submit the application. I recommend that you do it online; it is harder to make a mistake and you get confirmation by email.
Week of June 11, 2012. Offer letters sent to families. This is a week later than in previous years. Most of the families who will be notified have siblings in the school or are zoned families whose schools have 3 or 4 prek classes.
June 12 – June 22, 2012. Pre-registration at schools. You need to do this in person and if you are offered a seat and you don’t register at this time you lose the seat.
You might notice that there is no mention of the second round here. That is because they don’t want to confuse the matter, but if you are the parent of a first or only children it is most likely that you will get a seat in the second round that happens in the LATE summer. Assume that you will hear about that placement in late August. But you are saying, “What do I do about my private preschool deposit?!” That, and the fact that you are not in any way guaranteed a public prek seat and you will be notified so late is the heartache of this process.
I recommend that you download the second round directory now, before they take it off the website, so that you can look at the previous year’s numbers when the time comes.
For information on this process and the public kindergarten registration process (which is different and much easier) come to my Intro to Public School: Prek and Kindergarten talks.
For tickets: Mon. Jan. 9 at Madison Rose in Boerum Hill at 7pm
Tues. Jan. 10 at Hootenanny Art House in the South Slope at 7pm
You can apply to up to 12 schools on your application. You should be touring the schools when they get back from the holidays. Check the school’s website, call the office or Parent Coordinator to find out when their tours are (usually one day a month at around 9am). The seats are limited and placement is made by Central DOE, not the schools! (lobbying does NOT help so don’t waste your time). Placement is made by lottery, but it has priorities; first siblings are placed, then in-zone families, then out of zone/within the district, then out of district within the borough.
Joyce Szuflita
*****
Joyce Szuflita, NYC School Help, is a 28 year Brooklyn resident and the mom of teenage twins who has spent years interviewing educators, touring schools, combing the internet and being generally obsessed with all aspects of public and private schooling in Brooklyn and NYC. She consults privately with families who want to navigate the school search. She can be seen in the NY Times, Time Out NY Kids, NY Family – Brooklyn, achildgrowsinbrooklyn.com and nycprivateschoolsblog.com
In reference to the first round of Prek applications: most schools have the same number of prek classes from year to year, unless there has been serious overcrowding and then the number may be reduced. I haven’t seen more classes added even in schools that have room and many parents lobbying. So numbers in the first round directory will essentially be the same.
Second round: there may be a couple schools that have registered all seats in the first round, so won’t be listed in the second round, but in my brief scan of the District 13, 14 and 15 schools from last year – it looks like all schools had seats available in the second round – even 321 with only 12 seats total had 1 seat available in the second round. These numbers change a bit from year to year, but they are usually in the ball park.
A change in the regulation language is being proposed as we speak and there will probably be a slight difference in the lottery priority come application time.
“a. Zoned students whose verified siblings are pre-registered or enrollend at the time of application submission and will be in grades K-5 in the school at the start of the following September
b. Zoned students other than those in (a) above applying to the zoned school;
c. Students whose verified siblings are pre-registered or enrolled at the time of application submission and will be enrolled in grades K-5 in the school at the start of the following September who are residents of that district and who have no zoned school or whose zoned school has no pre-kindergarten program;
d. Students whose verified siblings are pre-registered or enrolled at the time of application submission and will be enrolled in grades K-5 in the school at the start of the following September who are residents of that district, and who are zoned to a different school, which has a pre-kindergarten program;
e. Students whose verified siblings will be enrolled in grades K-5 at the start of the following September who are residents of another district;”
It goes on, but essentially; inzone sibs, inzone students, out of sibs is the preference order. This means that unlike in previous years when all sibs very likely to get seats, now out of zone sibs may not get seats in highly sought after schools.
Thanks for the info.
Per your suggestion, I downloaded the 2nd Round Directory. Does anyone know if, typically, the same schools have a pre-K program from year to year and if the overall program is growing (more schools) or shrinking this coming year (2012-2013)? Also, how much correlation is there between the initial list/offering of Pre-K schools/program and the 2nd round list–are all the schools represented in the 2nd round?
Thanks for any help.
Peter
Tracy- thanks so much for sharing your experience about full day pre-k. It’s so helpful to hear your thoughts on it as we try and figure out school options and what the options are. I thought Joyce’s talks were incredibly helpful too.
When my oldest daughter was 2-1/2 yrs old, we attended Joyce’s Intro to Public School talk and I can’t tell you how helpful it was. I’m so thankful that I attended and highly recommend it to all NYC parents with a child under 4 or 5. I especially remember the one tip that she gave me regarding 1/2 day vs. full day pre-k and was glad we chose (and were accepted into) our zoned school’s full day pre-k. I had my reservations about full day since I was a stay-at-home mom and my daughter had been with me every day for 4 years (no daycare, no sitters, no local family—just me, 24/7). She walked into that full day pre-k and never looked back. She is now in a gifted and talented kindergarten class. Do not be afraid to send your child to a full day pre-k, even if they’ve been home with you for 4 years. I personally don’t feel that the 1/2 day program is enough, and it’s sad that the early childhood programs take a hit due to budget cutbacks, as the foundations for success in school are laid down in the pre-k age range.