BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — A popular Brooklyn Heights school will cut its pre-K program next school year because it doesn't have enough room to house all of its incoming students, school officials announced.
P.S. 8, the Robert Fulton school, is discontinuing its extremely sought-after pre-K class next fall, because of a crush of students in the upper grades who need more space.
The school, which currently serves students from pre-K to seventh grade, is adding on an eighth-grade class next school year, according to its website.
"We are growing and this is a matter of space," Assistant Principal Robert Mikos told DNAinfo New York on Friday. "We are over capacity and we absolutely needed the extra room."
The hugely popular pre-K program teaches children letter recognition, sounds and numbers and the children love the current teacher, according to parents. The school also boasts a partnership with the Guggenheim Museum and a newly established Glee Club.
Last year, less than 9 percent of children who applied to P.S. 8's pre-K program were accepted and all but one had siblings already attending the school.
DOE officials said they could not say whether the pre-K program would be discontinued, but they said that demand for the school has increased dramatically over the past six years.
Parents said they were told of the change by the school's principal, Seth Phillips, at a PTA meeting on Thursday night, adding that they were dismayed by the news.
"I was counting on it," said local parent Rachel Huzingh, who hoped her 2-year-old would soon join her older child who currently attends the school.
"It would have been great to have both kids in the same place at the same time. I think there will be a lot of people who are very disappointed."
