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Nearly Half P.S. 234's Kindergarten Seats Already Gone to Siblings

By Julie Shapiro | January 17, 2012 11:26am
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Billy Figueroa

TRIBECA — Just one week into kindergarten admissions season, TriBeCa's popular P.S. 234 has already filled almost half of its available seats — with siblings of current students.

Siblings of current P.S. 234 students, who are guaranteed a spot in next fall's kindergarten class, have snapped up 52 of the school's 125 seats, parent coordinator Magda Lenski said.

That means incoming kindergarteners without a sibling connection will have to vie for the remaining 73 seats, which will likely be doled out through a lottery, Department of Education officials predicted late last year.

Still, there are fewer incoming siblings this year than there were last year, when brothers and sisters of current students took up 68 of the kindergarten seats, Lenski said.

The Department of Education has not said where children who don't win a spot at P.S. 234 this year will be sent, but in the past the city has made alternate offers of P.S. 3 in Greenwich Village and P.S. 130 in Chinatown.

Parents hoping to snag a P.S. 234 kindergarten spot should make an appointment to pre-register at the school, at 292 Greenwich St., between Jan. 17 and Jan. 24.

Parents should leave their child home, but bring the child's birth certificate or passport, immunization records, a rent receipt or mortgage statement, a Con Edison or maintenance bill, a phone bill, a bank or credit card statement and a cable or cell phone bill that includes a home address, school officials said.

Downtown's other elementary schools are also starting to sign up incoming kindergarteners this month, based on new zones that were created last fall.

The new Peck Slip School, opening next fall in temporary space at Tweed Courthouse, is signing up kindergarteners a few blocks away at the Spruce Street School, 12 Spruce St. Families can stop by the school Jan. 17 to Jan. 20 from 9 to 10 a.m., Feb. 6 to Feb. 10 from 1 to 2 p.m. and Feb. 27 to March 2 from 9 to 10 a.m.

The Spruce Street School is inviting parents of incoming kindergarteners to pre-register at the school Jan. 30 to Feb. 3 from 1 to 2 p.m. or Feb. 27 to March 2 from 9 to 10 a.m.

Parents signing up for kindergarten at P.S. 89, 201 Warren St., can stop by the school any weekday between 9 a.m. and noon from now until March 2.

And at P.S. 276, 55 Battery Pl., parents can sign up for kindergarten at specific times during the weeks of Jan. 30 and Feb. 6.

Families who are zoned for any of Downtown's elementary schools can also apply to P.S. 150, 334 Greenwich St., which is accepting applications from 9 to 11 a.m. weekdays through March 2 and will hold a lottery to decide who will attend.