Reading Park Slope Parents, I see that many local sibs did not get into pre-K programs at public schools that their older siblings attend;  parents are, understandably, upset. Apparently the DOE’s computers compared data for the older sibling on the application with pre-submitted data about the older sibling in their records. f these addesses didn’t match the child applying for pre-K was treated as a non-sibling. Looks like the computer screwed up. Big time. What if the family has moved since the original pre-K application? Here’s an excerpt from the Inside Schools blog:  

Currently,
OSEPO staff are finishing up looking at every single one of the
applications of families who indicated they had a sibling already
enrolled, Jacob said. He told me he anticipates that the number of
families affected will be a "small minority" of the 9,000 families who
indicated that they had a sibling in their school of choice, though the
number will be "more than 4 or 5." After the scope of the problem is
clear, the DOE will decide how to handle the cases, he said, and
families will be notified then if there was a mistake in the way their
application was treated. "There are some cases where the problem was on
our end. … When we hear about problems, we solve them," he told me.

Jacob
said there may also be families who believe they were erroneously
denied a seat who actually completed the application incorrectly,
perhaps by listing the school in which the sibling is already enrolled
as something other than their first choice. (Sibling priority only
works for your first-choice school.)

Jacob advised me that the
very best thing parents who believe the address-matching issue may be
the root of their rejection should hold tight while the DOE decides how
to solve the problem. I know that will be hard to do, but I have faith
that the DOE is committed to addressing the issues, even though it
might not know yet exactly how to. If you just can’t wait, Jacob said
the best number to call at OSEPO is 212-374-4948.
That’s also the number you should call if you have other issues or if
you still haven’t received a letter — though we have heard from one
father who just received a letter this morning.