TRIBECA — All the children who were waitlisted for TriBeCa's P.S. 234 have won a spot in the popular school — and the extra class space could help alleviate overcrowding in other downtown schools, the principal said Monday.
The school will open an extra kindergarten class in the fall to accommodate the 22 remaining children on the waitlist, principal Lisa Ripperger said. In March, some 38 children were waiting for spots.
"We reconsidered some of the numbers and thought we could accommodate a sixth kindergarten, so we're going to do that," Ripperger said.
P.S. 234 sent out letters notifying the waitlisted parents last week, Ripperger said. The decision to open a sixth kindergarten class was first reported by the Tribeca Trib.
While the school has historically been overcrowded, Ripperger said she has enough space to add the extra class because some of the school's older grades have seen attrition, as families move away or switch schools.
In addition to giving a spot to all the children on P.S. 234's waitlist, the extra class could even serve some of the dozens of children who are still waitlisted for Downtown's other elementary schools. Ripperger does not expect to fill all 25 spaces in the new kindergarten class with children zoned for P.S. 234.
"I hope we're going to help the overall Downtown waitlist situation," she said.
Other Downtown schools that had waitlists as of last month include P.S. 276 in southern Battery Park City, P.S. 89 in northern Battery Park City and the new Peck Slip School at Tweed Courthouse.
Many of those families are still anxiously waiting to find out where their child will go to kindergarten in the fall. The Department of Education does not expect to make alternate offers to waitlisted families until June.
Karen Behrens, whose daughter is on the waitlist for P.S. 276, said she has heard that very few families waitlisted for the school have been accepted so far.
"We haven't heard a word," she said.
