Kindergarten wait list crisis: pictures are louder than words

Is this really pocket overcrowding, as the DOE still maintains?  With waiting lists at more than one fourth of the city's elementary schools?  Check out the maps below.

Just as the administration cuts the capital plan back by almost 50%.....see for yourself the evidence of the growing overcrowding crisis in our schools.  Though the DOE will say not all these children will be forced to attend schools outside their zone, many of them will; others will be consigned to class sizes of 25 or more; and other families will have moved out of the city because of the lack of space in their neighborhood schools. 

If you put your cursor over the school, its name will appear; if you click on it, you will see the number of children who were on the wait list as of that date.  You can also zoom in and out.

2009 Kindergarten Waitlist (as of July): 28 schools, 474 children

2010 Kindergarten waitlist (as of March): 99 schools, 2217 children

2011 Kindergarten waitlist (as of March): 155 schools, 3193 children

Brooklyn briefing on school overcrowding

On May 13, I will be briefing Brooklyn parents, members of Community Boards, CECs, and concerned citizens on the school overcrowding crisis in the borough and citywide, and what can be done.

When: Thursday May 13 at 6 PM

Where: Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street

This briefing, sponsored by Brooklyn BP Marty Markowitz, will be followed by discussion and a strategy session.

Together we need to take action before consigning another generation of children to overcrowded conditions, which the state’s highest court said was a violation of their right to an adequate education.

Here is a flyer you can post in your school; please RSVP to mkelley@brooklynbp.nyc.gov