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Read the press release here.

City Cuts Pre-K Classes in Forest Hills to Make Room for Kindergarten Seats

 P.S. 196, which initially had 150 kindergarten seats, will now offer 25 additional seats.
P.S. 196, which initially had 150 kindergarten seats, will now offer 25 additional seats.
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DNAinfo/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska

QUEENS — The Department of Education is cutting pre-K classes to add more kindergarten seats to Forest Hills schools after dozens of students were wait-listed, officials announced Thursday.

P.S. 144 will get 50 extra kindergarten seats and P.S. 196 will get 25 additional seats for the 2015-2016 school year, officials said.

In April, P.S. 196, which currently has 150 kindergarten seats, wait-listed 54 kids. P.S. 144, which offers 100 seats, had 71 students waiting, according to parents and elected officials.

“As part of our ongoing effort to engage with families in Forest Hills and provide a high-quality education to all children, we have added an additional kindergarten class at PS 196 and two classes at PS 144,” DOE spokesman Jason Fink said in a statement.

“We will continue working to ensure that as many students as possible receive an offer at their zoned school,” he continued.  

Dozens of families received letters from the Department of Education in April, notifying them that their P.S. 196 and P.S. 144 zoned students were wait-listed and could be sent to other District 28 schools, sometimes outside of Forest Hills.

Some learned they might have to trek to P.S. 99 in Kew Gardens, P.S. 117 in Briarwood and P.S. 206 in Rego Park, if their kids didn't get into the schools nearby, parents said.

Frustrated parents asked the DOE to install trailers at the schools to accommodate their children. It would be a short-term solution to the neighborhood's kindergarten crisis, at least until a permanent solution is found. They also asked the agency to cut the number of pre-K classes.

Kindergarten is a mandatory program, while pre-K is not, although the de Blasio administration has made pre-K expansion the centerpiece of its agenda.

On Thursday, the DOE said the number of pre-K seats was reduced to create room for additional kindergarten seats. Some pre-K classes, however, will still be available at both schools, the agency said.

The agency also said that decision letters regarding pre-K placement have not been sent out yet. They are expected be mailed in early June. 

It was not immediately clear if the DOE was planning any additional accommodations for the rest of the wait-listed children. 

However, the agency said that waitlists still had the possibility of changing through mid-October as parents opt for alternatives, like enrolling in gifted and talented programs.

Local elected officials said they're not satisfied with the solution proposed by the DOE to cut pre-k classes for more kindergarten seats — while they earlier supported de Blasio's plan to expand pre-K programs. 

On Thursday, several pols, including Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng and City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz sent a letter to Chancellor Carmen Fariña saying that both eliminating classes and asking "parents to travel far distances to send their children to pre-k and elementary school is unacceptable."

While emphasizing that they are against the use of trailers "as permanent fixtures in our education system," officials urged the DOE to install them at “these two schools to solve this immediate issue.”

They also requested the DOE “release the plan for permanent facilities to accommodate all students, which will definitively guarantee the use of trailers are temporary at PS 144 and PS 196.”