How do I find universal prekindergartens?

By Joyce Szuflita
Where are the free preks in Brooklyn?
You can search on the DoE’s MY SCHOOLS platform (“browse” the directory at the bottom of the page), but it doesn’t show you zone lines which are important priorities for some programs. It will only show you schools within a mile of your house, unless you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the search and click the forward arrow. That shows you schools within two miles, but doesn’t include the previous search, so you can’t see schools in context.

Do you want a simple map that lays out the options in one place? Here is last year’s Prek Directory. I have edited and condensed it to fit in this blog.

Why don’t they publish this online? I can’t tell you. Call 311 and complain.

Ah Prek, where for art thou?

by Joyce Szuflita
If you are looking for Prek information now and not finding it, your problem is that you are being too proactive.

Touring season for public school doesn't usually start until late Oct. The application for prek may not open until Feb. and application deadline may be in March. We don't know yet because the DoE only works in the present tense and that is too far away.

Touring the public school options will likely go through March.
Touring the NYCEEC's (preschools, Head Starts, daycares that have done the paperwork to run a UPK location) are something that will probably end in Dec/Jan.

The DoE is also moving away for their very thorough printed directories (saving trees is a good thing) to their glitchy on-line search functions (which is not such a good thing). I find the search parameters very confusing and unsatisfying. Search on a laptop if you can, use Google Chrome.

To get on the DoE’s email blasts, go here.
To scan the information currently available go here.
To browse the glitchy search function go here. Scan down to the very bottom of the page and follow the prompts.

I searched a random address and it gives me a narrow grouping around a mile radius, but I can't expand the radius. It doesn't make distinction by district, where there is priority for public schools and prek centers according to zone and/or district. When I screened for the subway line, it left off very important options. The fact is that I know the schools exist and had to click many different parameters to actively find schools that I knew I was looking for. If you are not in this position, you would miss important options. If I didn't know they existed I might never have found them

When you click on the program (by the star at the bottom of the listing). It doesn't give you any information about admissions priorities - which I know the different kinds of schools have. You have to dig into the Quality Snapshot to see how many seats are available, to give you an idea about whether you have a chance of getting in or not. Enrollment, if you are reading, these are some of my concerns.

I am hoping that when we get closer to application time, that more information will be available.

no Round 2 for prekindergarten lottery

By Joyce Szuflita
The DOE is changing it up this year. They have eliminated the Round 2 lottery for seats left vacant after Round 1. Was it too late for families, or too cumbersome or too expensive? We will never know. What we know now is that the responsibility for placing left over spots goes to the schools and they have not been given any protocol on how to proceed. I called a couple schools to see what they were planning on doing and they said that the DOE will probably send instructions to them in the principals' weekly newsletter but it would likely come just before the process begins (it is not uncommon for the DOE to dole out important information like this at the last minute). When I called Central Enrollment, they gave me the very unacceptable (and probably inaccurate) answer that the numbers of seats available at the schools would be posted in fall of 2012 - like parents would just wander in mid September to claim left over seats?! Clearly, they hadn't thought this through. I have talked with insideschools and they are digging for more a more accurate forecast of the process schools should be following.

Here is what we can guess; most schools will probably not be taking names for a wait list until after the last day of Round 1 registration - according to the DOE's current calendar registration ends on Friday, June 22 - so I would be ready to attack the wait lists on Monday June 25 bright and early. The schools won't know if they have seats available until that date and why bother collecting a list of names before the fact if some of those people may be placed elsewhere and you could lose the list in the many months before you can use it. How will they be assigning seats? Will they get a prioritized list of names? Will they collect names and do it first come first served or will the schools do their own lottery? Nobody knows.

What do you do now?

• I would keep in close contact with the parent coordinator at each school that I am interested in for prek, to make sure that I don't miss what they are going to do in June.

• Sign up for Insideschools.org newsletter right on their home page below the large photo. If they have more news on the process they will blog about it and you will receive an update in your email.

• I would sign up for the DOE's prekindergarten alerts (make sure that you check the appropriate boxes) so that you don't miss anything there.