Maintain Six Kindergarten Classes at P.S. 8 for 2015-16 & Engage Our Community to Devise Meaningful Medium and Long-term Solutions for Overcrowding.
Maintain Six Kindergarten Classes at P.S. 8 for 2015-16 & Engage Our Community to Devise Meaningful Medium and Long-term Solutions for Overcrowding.
The Issue
In November of 2014 the PTA held a Town Hall meeting to alert the community of a growing overcrowding problem at P.S. 8. DOE officials in attendance assured parents that “all options are on the table” and promised decisions would be made with transparency. In January 2015, at a Kindergarten Admissions information session arranged by the community elected officials, no decision had been made and the DOE offered, “nothing is off the table.” In March 2015, well after the DOE Kindergarten application deadline, parent activist efforts uncovered the DOE’s decision to cut 25 Kindergarten seats at P.S. 8, which was not communicated by the DOE to the public or to local elected officials. Options to accommodate the soon-to-be kindergarteners were left unexplored. This result shuts children out of their zoned neighborhood school.
Warnings to the community after the deadlines for other available options have passed do not constitute a plan. The lack of transparency throughout the admissions process and the failure of the DOE to come up with a short-term strategy have shifted the burden to families. The consequences are being shouldered by our children. Parents are forced to make hasty decisions about the most important issue in their young children's lives: education.
Parents of zoned children born in 2010 have been left behind by the DOE. Fall 2014 Pre-K classes were eliminated at P.S. 8 and the sixth Kindergarten class was added. Now, that sixth Kindergarten class has been cut for 2015. Our children have been locked out not once, but TWICE.
Several other elementary schools throughout the city are experiencing, or have recently experienced similar overcrowding concerns. Many of these schools are adding Kindergarten classes to address this issue. We urge the DOE to restore the sixth Kindergarten class at P.S. 8 for the fall of 2015.
Kindergarten is now a mandated grade. All Kindergarten students should have the right to attend public school in their local community, not just those fortunate enough to win the enrollment lottery. The DOE must explore all the options in a public discourse before cutting seats. We are confident the DOE can accommodate all of our children at P.S. 8. in 2015-16. This community will not accept the solution of sending our children to an overflow school outside of our local community.
WE ARE PS8 TOO!
The Issue
In November of 2014 the PTA held a Town Hall meeting to alert the community of a growing overcrowding problem at P.S. 8. DOE officials in attendance assured parents that “all options are on the table” and promised decisions would be made with transparency. In January 2015, at a Kindergarten Admissions information session arranged by the community elected officials, no decision had been made and the DOE offered, “nothing is off the table.” In March 2015, well after the DOE Kindergarten application deadline, parent activist efforts uncovered the DOE’s decision to cut 25 Kindergarten seats at P.S. 8, which was not communicated by the DOE to the public or to local elected officials. Options to accommodate the soon-to-be kindergarteners were left unexplored. This result shuts children out of their zoned neighborhood school.
Warnings to the community after the deadlines for other available options have passed do not constitute a plan. The lack of transparency throughout the admissions process and the failure of the DOE to come up with a short-term strategy have shifted the burden to families. The consequences are being shouldered by our children. Parents are forced to make hasty decisions about the most important issue in their young children's lives: education.
Parents of zoned children born in 2010 have been left behind by the DOE. Fall 2014 Pre-K classes were eliminated at P.S. 8 and the sixth Kindergarten class was added. Now, that sixth Kindergarten class has been cut for 2015. Our children have been locked out not once, but TWICE.
Several other elementary schools throughout the city are experiencing, or have recently experienced similar overcrowding concerns. Many of these schools are adding Kindergarten classes to address this issue. We urge the DOE to restore the sixth Kindergarten class at P.S. 8 for the fall of 2015.
Kindergarten is now a mandated grade. All Kindergarten students should have the right to attend public school in their local community, not just those fortunate enough to win the enrollment lottery. The DOE must explore all the options in a public discourse before cutting seats. We are confident the DOE can accommodate all of our children at P.S. 8. in 2015-16. This community will not accept the solution of sending our children to an overflow school outside of our local community.
WE ARE PS8 TOO!
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Petition created on April 22, 2015