Early Childhood

New York City Launches New, Unified Preschool Application Form

By Lillian Mongeau — February 09, 2015 1 min read
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As New York City prepares to add 17,000 full-day preschool seats in 2015, officials announced a single application for district and community schools.

“Parents and teachers and principals will have an early start on [knowing] the kids that are going into their programs,” New York City Schools’ Chancellor Carmen Fariña was quoted as saying in an article on the new application by Chalkbeat New York. “I think parents are going to be much happier.”

New York City is on the road to having one of the largest public preschool programs in the country, thanks to a push by Mayor Bill de Blasio that some have criticized as too much, too fast. Last year, the first year with a vastly expanded preschool program that will grow again this year, saw confusion among parents as they tried to sign up for programs, the Chalkbeat article said. There also was some last-minute scrambling by schools as they figured out how many students they could expect to come through their doors on day one. The new form is meant to alleviate much of that confusion.

This year’s application process will begin on March 16. Parents may list up to 12 schools in order of preference and will be matched with one by June. Families will remain on the waiting lists of schools they ranked ahead of their match.

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Early Years blog.