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311 Hotline Gave Parents Wrong Info About New UES School, Pol Says

By Amy Zimmer | February 17, 2012 6:59am | Updated on February 17, 2012 8:01am
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School Zoning Map 4
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Billy Figueroa

UPPER EAST SIDE — A new elementary school is opening on the Upper East Side in September — though that's apparently news to the city.

The city's 311 public infomation hotline sent some Upper East Side parents enrolling their children into kindergarten before the Mar. 2 deadline to the wrong schools, after the city-run hotline was apparently given outdated information and zoning maps, according to state Assemblyman Micah Kellner.

Kellner, whose Upper East Side district includes the area that is slated to get the new P.S. 527 in the former Our Lady of Good Counsel building at 323 E. 91st St. in fall 2012, said parents came to his office complaining that the 311 online system had no record of the new school, and that it had instead been sending them to existing schools in the area.

Daniel McCormick, assistant principal at East Harlem's Gifted and Talented school, will lead the Upper East Side's new P.S. 527.
Daniel McCormick, assistant principal at East Harlem's Gifted and Talented school, will lead the Upper East Side's new P.S. 527.
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DNAinfo/Amy Zimmer

"We called and tested the system," said Kellner, who said 311 directed him to P.S. 151 — the wrong school — for the 2012 school year.

"The city is constantly saying to rely on 311 for accurate information," he said. But it failed to provide that "with something as sensitive as a child's school."

"With the already extensive process of getting a child into a zone school and the fear of being waitlisted, Upper East Side parents should not be unduly burdened with misinformation as well," Kellner wrote in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Feb. 7.

Kellner received a response Wednesday from Joseph Morrisroe, executive director for 311, saying that "a temporary solution was instituted at 311" for parents looking to confirm their children's school zones for kindergarten enrollment.

"These inquiries will be directed to a DOE-specialist trained to work with parents and with access to school zone maps and materials that are not available at 311, from Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.," Morrisroe wrote to Kellner.

"For after-hours the interim solution in place at 311 will be available and we are working with the DOE to enhance that as best as possible," he added.

A spokesman from the DOE told DNAinfo, "We are working to update our online map so it has both current and, where applicable, next year's zones shown."

The DOE announced previously that it was creating P.S. 527 in response to a baby boom in the area, and added that it's already tapped Daniel McCormick, the assistant principal at TAG Young Scholars, a citywide talented and gifted school in East Harlem, to lead the new school carved out of blocks mainly from P.S. 151, on East 88th Street and from P.S. 290, on East 82nd Street.

Kellner said Thursday that he was relieved that the city reacted swiftly, but said the 311 snafu only added stress and confusion for parents in a neighborhood that has had its share of stress and confusion with waitlists and its third new elementary school in three years, he noted.

"They quickly fixed the problem," Kellner said, "but parents didn't have to be put through that."