Councilmember de Blasio, Public Advocate Gotbaum, parents and students demand answers from
the Department of Education about the recent Pre-K Debacle. Here’s the press release about today’s press conference at Tweed at 52 Chambers Street at 12:45 p.m.

City Hall— Councilmember Bill de Blasio, Public Advocate Betsy
Gotbaum, parents, and students will hold a press conference tomorrow
demanding answers from the Department of Education (DOE) about the
flaw in its new system for assigning students to Pre-K. Under the
DOE’s old Pre-K enrollment system, parents of more than one child had
priority to get all of their children into the same school. Now, a
major glitch in the new system is creating huge problems for parents
of multiple Pre-K age children by not automatically giving them
priority for placing all of their children in the same school.

Dozens of frustrated parents have contacted Councilmember de Blasio’s
office seeking help with this matter. Repeated calls from parents to
the DOE have gone unanswered, and they have been left with no
recourse to get their children into the same schools.
It is unacceptable that parents who rightly believed that they would
receive priority in placing all of their children in the same school
must now face the serious difficulties associated with having their
Pre-K age children attend different schools. With the new school year
only a few months away, the DOE must resolve this fiasco immediately.

Who: Councilmember de Blasio, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, Parents
and Students

When: 12:45pm– Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Where: DOE Headquarters (TWEED)- 52 Chambers Street, NY Contact:
Sarah Figuereo 718-854-9368 or 347-277-9972