By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
TRIBECA — TriBeCa parents are upset about the city's plan to ship their children to a Chinatown school where the students wear uniforms and have only a few minutes for recess.
The parents expected to send their children to TriBeCa's coveted P.S. 234, where students call teachers by their first name and learn through hands-on exploration.
But at least 25 families who did not win a spot in the overcrowded P.S. 234 received letters this week saying their children would go to kindergarten at P.S. 130 on Baxter Street instead.
"We were really surprised and really disappointed," said Christine Brogan, 38, who has lived in TriBeCa for nine years and expected her son to attend P.S. 234.
Brogan said she and other parents are worried about P.S. 130's stricter environment, which has a more traditional teaching style than the progressive P.S. 234.
Another major difference between the schools is that 70 percent of P.S. 130's incoming kindergarteners do not speak English fluently, Principal Lily Woo has told DNAinfo.
Most of the children speak only Chinese at home, so all kindergarten teachers are also certified as English as a Second Language specialists, according to InsideSchools.org.
"I'm wondering what [my son] will be doing while the other kids learn to speak English," Brogan said. "It also might be hard for him to make friends."
P.S. 234 held a lottery for its 125 kindergarten seats this year after receiving dozens more applications than the school could accommodate.
In the past, children on P.S. 234's waitlist were offered spots at the neighboring downtown schools, but this year all of those schools are full as well, so the city had to look further afield to find seats for the extra children.
Both P.S. 234 and P.S. 130 have strong academic records and have ranked among the top elementary schools in Manhattan. On the most recent city report cards, P.S. 130 received an A and P.S. 234 received a B.
A Department of Education spokeswoman confirmed that the P.S. 234 applicants had been given spots at P.S. 130, which she called "a very high quality option for parents."
The waitlisted P.S. 234 parents are scheduled to tour P.S. 130 next week.
The city plans to open a new elementary school downtown in 2012, which will help alleviate the waitlists.
Eric Greenleaf, a P.S. 234 parent and school overcrowding activist, believes that sending children to P.S. 130 is not an appropriate solution in the meantime because that school is also already full.
According to Insideschools.org, P.S. 130 has 18 percent more students than it can handle, just like P.S. 234.
Greenleaf is also concerned about young children having to walk down busy Canal Street to get to P.S. 130, which is about a mile from P.S. 234.
"It's disappointing," Greenleaf said. "It's not a solution to overcrowding, and it puts children in harm's way."
P.S. 234's PTA is hosting a meeting about school overcrowding downtown and the upcoming rezoning of lower Manhattan's schools at 8:35 a.m. June 2 at P.S. 234, 292 Greenwich St.
