talked about the pre-K push on Thursday at P.S. 1. Downtown Express Photo by Sam Spokony
BY JOSH ROGERS | Three Chinatown public schools will each get an additional full-day, pre-K classroom this September, the city announced Wednesday.
The schools are P.S. 1 at 8 Henry St., P.S. 124, 40 Division St., and as expected, P.S. 130 at 143 Baxter St. Each room will have 18 students, bringing the expansion to 54 students in Lower Manhattan, although more could be added to community-based organizations or C.B.O.’s in May.
Mayor Bill de Blasio had visited P.S. 130 earlier this year to highlight his push to expand the number of full-day pre-K programs this September, so it was probably the only school expected to be on the expanded list, which includes over 4,000 new seats across the city.
students at P.S. 1 on Thursday. Photo courtesy of the Speaker’s
office.
““For months, we have been planning every facet of these programs to ensure we were ready to launch the moment funding was secured,” de Blasio said in a statement, April 2. “Today, the rubber hits the road, and families will have more options for their children.”
“For decades, families have clamored for more high quality full-day pre-K seats in their communities,” said Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. “Today, this becomes reality. Families are eager, teachers are ready, and we have an unprecedented commitment that will ensure the highest quality pre-K that every 4-year-old so deeply deserves.”
Other than the Chinatown additions, no other Lower Manhattan schools will be getting any more pre-K seats, which will undoubtedly come as a relief to the Downtown school advocates who were concerned the focus on pre-K would crowd out the more pressing need of finding kindergarten space Downtown.
The public school applications are due April 23. A Dept. of Education official told Downtown Express last week that parents who have already applied for pre-K could change their school preference rankings once the expanded list (accessible here) came out. The C.B.O.’s typically have their own deadlines because they handle their own applications,
