Shortage Of Pre-K Seats At PS 58 In Carroll Gardens Leaves Parents Scrambling

PS 58 at Smith Street between Carroll and First Streets.

Union Street between Columbia and Hicks Streets

New Pre-K annex for PS58 at 131-133 Union Street

A few days ago, I received an email from Carroll Gardener Hope Korenstein, who expressed her dismay at the shortage of Pre-Kindergarten spaces at PS 58. She writes:

"I am one of the unlucky parents who did not receive a seat for my son in the pre-k at PS 58. I was denied a seat even though I live in the zone and my daughter attends PS 58. For the first time, zoned siblings were denied seats; supposedly there are 23 of us.

What I don't understand - and what the DOE has so far refused to explain - is why they are only putting 2 pre-k classrooms in the new annex space? The building, at 131 Union Street between Hicks and Columbia, is 42 feet wide and three stories tall. It appears to be completely empty. Carroll Gardens is a wildly underserved neighborhood for pre-k, so why on earth would the DOE not use all of that available space?

I intend to keep trying to reach someone in the DOE who is willing to at least give me an explanation."

For the past few years, PS 58, a.k.a. The Carroll School, located at Carroll Street and Smith Street, has had three pre-K classes that seat 18 children each. In October 2015, the school announced that it was "unlikely that PS 58 will be able to retain its three Pre-Kindergarten classrooms in the building for the 2016-2017 school year."

Principal Katie Dello Stritto told parents that the problem was overcrowding and that the pre-K program would either have to be eliminated or be moved out of the school building on Carroll Street.

Luckily,  the Department of Education has been able to secure space for two of the existing three classes in a former bank building on Union Street between Columbia  and Hicks Streets and construction work is underway to ready the space for this coming September. 

A third class would  continue to be housed at the school's main campus.

Despite the fact that the new annex was several blocks away from PS 58, it came as a relief to many parents. The school, however, reminded everyone that "as in previous years, we expect that most of our Pre-K seats will be filled with children who will have an older sibling attending PS 58 in September."

Obviously, as Hope Korenstein's email indicates, quite a number of younger siblings who should have qualified were not offered a seat.  This also means that despite being able to retain three pre-k classes next year, the need for additional seats is far greater in the neighborhood.

And we are not even talking about all the four-year olds in Carroll Gardens who don't have an older brother or sister already at the school and who don't stand any chance of getting a seat.

Hope reached out to Principal Dello Strito to ask why the DOE is limiting the number of pre-k classrooms at the newly leased Union Street building to only two, "when it could so obviously accommodate more pre-k classes in the annex space?  Especially when Carroll Gardens is so horribly underserved for pre-k?"

Principal Della Strito, in an email to Hope responded: "I understand your frustration in that the space looks larger than the capacity of having only two PreK classes. I can tell you that when we were first told that they would be leasing the space and we would be able to have two PreK classes there that this was what the School Construction Authority had deemed possible for the space that was leased."

She assured Hope that she had spoken to Superintenant Anita Skop, about these concerns.  The superintendent has reached out to the SCA on our behalf and will be looking further into the specifics of the space and what is possible," according to Della Strita.

Let us hope that it is possible to add one if not two more classrooms to the Union Street annex to accommodate more children.  

How ironic that one of New York Mayor DeBlasio's mandates when he was elected was to create more Pre-Kindergarden seats in the city.  The obvious shortage and the overall overcrowding in our classrooms here in Carroll Gardens was entirely predictable given the number of new residential developments that have been added to the neighborhood.

Is your child one of the ones that did not get a Pre-K seat offer depute having a sibling at PS 58 already?  What will you do?  What alternatives are you looking at?  let us hear what you think?

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PS 58 In Carroll Gardens May Lose Pre-K Next Year Unless Solution To Overcrowding Can Be Found

One of New York Mayor DeBlasio's mandates when he was elected was to create more Pre-Kindergarden spots in the city.  It therefore seems ironic that our own local elementary school,  Public School 58, also knows as the Carroll School, may not be offering pre-K classes next year.

PS 58's principal Katie Dello Stritto confirmed the news that had been circulating amongst parents for a while.  In a letter to the school community which was sent out a few days ago, Strito writes:

"Our community continues to grow and we are very grateful for all that comes with that growth, but as you know, we are experiencing a space crunch. As we discussed at the Oct. 21st forum on over-crowding and at this week’s PTA meeting, it is unlikely that PS 58 will be able to retain its three Pre-Kindergarten classrooms in the building for the 2016-2017 school year. 
I am sure many of you have heard about this as you talk with your friends and read news articles. I regret that we will need to either eliminate or move our Pre-K program out of the building; this move is necessary to meet the needs of our growing community. As our current students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade move up, we need more classrooms in the upper grades. 
We are very fortunate that the School Leadership Team has formed a group of parents and staff members who are diligently working together to find alternate solutions for Pre-K classes for next year. However, at this time there is not yet anything concrete to report regarding space for next year. I am speaking regularly with our District 15 Superintendent as well as officials in Brad Lander’s office who understand that, like so many other areas, we require more space to meet our students’ needs."

The news certainly cannot come as too much of a surprise.  As we all know, Carroll Gardens has become more and more popular amongst young couples with children.  Several large scale developments catering to families have risen in the neighborhood in the last decade. The problem will get even worse with the completion of the 700-unit Lightstone Group Project on Bond Street, the proposed 770 unit housing development at Public Place at Smith Street and countless others that are in the works.

Apparently, PS58 is currently at 130 percent capacity.  This is simply the result of poor planning on New York City's part, which should have taken measures long ago to create more school seats to accommodate all the students moving into the neighborhood. 

PS 58 once had an annex right across the street, which was built in the 1950s or 60s on leased land at 360 Smith Street to provide additional classrooms if the need should ever arose.  The Department of Education used it for years to house the District 15 offices. About 10 years ago, the DoE canceled the land lease and walked away from the building.   The owner of the land, Bill Stein, then sold the building to the Hannah Senesh Community Day School in 2006. (Subsequently, Stein built a new development right next door at Second Place and Smith Street that attracted young families)

Had the City held on to the building at that time, PS 58's problems today could perhaps been solved very easily.  But instead, the DoB was shortsighted.

The Hannah Senesh School building at 342 Smith Street.
The original building was erected in the 50s or 60s by DoE as an annex for PS 58.
For years, it house the District 15 office.

It is unlikely that Pre-K space will be found in enough time to accommodate the little ones in our neighborhood for the 2016-17 school year.

As a long time resident of Carroll Gardens and mother of two children who once attended PS 58 from Pre-K to 5th grade, that makes me rather sad.

Let us hope that a solution will be found, and soon.

Below are some photos of my kids at PS 58 Pre K.  Who remembers Miss Hogan, the best teacher ever?

My daughter's Pre-k class at PS58 in 1991

 Pre-K classroom back then

Pre-K teacher Miss Hogan with my daughter C, and some classmates

Daughter C in Pre-K

 My son M. class in 1995

 My son M. with Miss Hogan

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Controversy About Possible 8 Am Starting Time At PS58, The Carroll School

 For as long as anyone can remember, the school days at most schools in New York City began at around 8:30 AM and ended at 3PM. That, however, seems to be changing. Apparently, as a result of the newly negotiated contract between the United Federation of Teachers and the City of New York, individual schools are now allowed to determine their own arrival and dismissal times.
At Public School PS 58, also known as The Carroll School at 330 Smith Street, parents recently received a notice telling them that the elementary school has decided to start the school day at 8:00 and to dismiss the children at 2:20 PM at the start of the new school year in September.
The announcement has cause quite an uproar amongst the parents. Acting Principal Katie Dello Stritto and Acting Assistant Principal Annique Leman claim that the decision was made by the Board of Education. However, it is the understanding of the parents that it was left up to the individual schools. The parents claim that they were not consulted prior to the decision.

PS 58 Parent Paige Bellenbaum has started an online petition, which reads in part:

As I understand that this time change allows teachers the flexibility to add more small-group work and additional enrichment during the day, along with additional hours for communication with parents and professional development, I am deeply saddened by the fact that this decision was not subject to a public discussion inviting PS 58 parent feedback. 

It is my understanding that schools have the ability to determine their starting time, and that our neighboring school, PS 29, has opted for an 8:30 AM arrival time. 

Please understand that this change poses the following obstacles to many PS 58 parents: 

- Quality family time with our children is challenging for working parents. Creating an earlier start time means that families lose a valuable 40 minutes together every morning to make it to school on time. 

- Our children will need to go to bed earlier, leaving less time for homework, and again, less time together as a family. 

- Many working parents have their children involved in afterschool activities which are costly as is. This shift will place even more of a financial hardship on parents. 

As PS 58 parents, we applaud and admire the amazing education and care that you provide for our most prized possessions every day. Please include our concerns in this decision making process, please move the new arrival time up to 8:30 AM to accommodate the families of PS 58.

Yesterday, the Acting Principal, PTA President and UFT Representative sent out the email below:

Dear PS 58 Families:We would like to update you on the current discussion concerning the school schedule. We, representatives from the school administration, the UFT and the PTA, have met and are evaluating possibilities and ways to mitigate the burden of any schedule change on families, teachers and staff.We would truly appreciate it if everyone could give us until the end of the week to get back to you. We value everyone's input, but additional comment at this point would be unproductive.There will be an update on Friday. 

Thank you very much for your consideration, 

Henry Carrier, President, PS 58 PTA 

Robert Hansen, President-Elect, PS 58 PTA 

Michael Leahy, President-Elect, PS 58 PTA 

Katie Dello Stritto, Acting Principal, PS 58 

Annique Leman, Assistant Principal, PS 58 

Danielle Lehtinen, UFT Chapter Leader, PS 58 

Dan Lupkin, UFT Delegate and Chapter Leader-Elect, Ps 58

Obviously, there will be quite a discussion going on at PS58 before the end of the school year. Stay tuned. To access the online petition, click here.

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