If it's March, it's time for parents to get screwed over by the Department of Education's kindergarten lottery. Last year, there were over 2,000 kids wait listed for spots in a public kindergarten program, and this year there are nearly 3,200 on the wait list. It's gotten so desperate, some parents are ratting out others who are lying about their residences to get into Park Slope's PS 107, requiring so-called "kindergarten cops" to investigate.
The Post reports, "Detective work by PS 107 parent coordinator Pat Mannino and other staffers has already uncovered two cases this year. In one, a family hoping to get into the school ratted out a kid from another neighborhood, who was then bounced from the waiting list. Last year, a family offered to pay the electric bill at a stranger's home, with the receipts serving as proof of residence." You can blame the flock of new residents to Park Slope for why PS 107's waiting list growing from three last year to 48 this year. One parent whose child is #43 on the list told the Daily News, "We were completely blindsided. What's very frustrating is that we moved to this neighborhood and scraped our money together for this school."
The News also says, "The biggest overcrowding problem is once again in Corona, Queens, but the upper East Side, West Side and downtown sections of Manhattan, as well as Brownstone Brooklyn, are also swimming in displaced kids." A frustrated parent complained, "We're just in limbo waiting, wondering what the hell's going to happen next and where we're going to send our daughter to kindergarten."
The Department of Education says they are working to get kids into schools and that the wait lists usually shrink because some kids end up going to private schools.
