By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — TriBeCa families will learn as soon as this week whether their children have won the lottery for kindergarten seats at the coveted P.S. 234.
P.S. 234 has received 160 applications for 125 seats and plans to send letters about waitlist placement later this week or early next week, said Magda Lenski, the school's parent coordinator.
The number of applications to P.S. 234 was down from a month ago, when the school had received 166 requests from prospective kindergarteners, Lenski said. Several families dropped off the list after deciding to send their children to private school, she said.
More than half of the available seats will go to siblings of current P.S. 234 students, who are guaranteed a kindergarten spot. The rest of the seats would be doled out by a lottery conducted this week, Lenski said.
P.S. 276 in southern Battery Park City had also received more kindergarten applications than the school was expecting, said Eric Weldon, the school's parent coordinator.
P.S. 276 planned to have four kindergarten classes with 75 to 100 children total, but the school received about 105 applications and might have to open an extra class, Weldon said. Weldon anticipates that new families moving to the neighborhood may soon add their names to the list.
But the number of kindergarteners at P.S. 276 could fall as well, as more families find out about private school and gifted and talented programs, so Weldon said the school did not plan to hold a lottery.
As of last month, P.S. 89 in northern Battery Park City had received 64 applications for 65 to 75 seats and the Spruce Street School had received 60 applications for 50 to 75 seats. The two schools did not provide updated numbers to DNAinfo this week.
The official pre-registration period for kindergarten ended last Friday. Parents who have not yet signed up can still contact their zoned school, but they may not be guaranteed a seat.
