Mayor de Blasio gives pep talk to school staffers to boost prekindergarten enrollment

Starting late next week, the city will add thousands of new pre-K seats at community-based organizations to the directory of providers also available to city parents. The new classes will be held in day-care centers, faith-based institutions, libraries and other locations.

BY Ben Chapman

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Saturday, May 24, 2014, 2:30 AM

 

Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily News Mayor de Blasio delivered a passionate pep talk to more than 500 city principals and other public school staffers Friday morning in a conference call aimed at boosting pre-K enrollment.

Prekindergarten classes for city 4-year-olds won’t start until September, but the de Blasio administration is already working overtime to promote its signature project — free, universal pre-K.
Mayor de Blasio delivered a passionate pep talk to more than 500 city principals and other public school staffers Friday morning in a conference call aimed at boosting pre-K enrollment.
The first registration period for district-run pre-K programs has already passed, but de Blasio used the call to boost interest in community-based early childhood centers which will house about 60% of the city’s pre-K seats.
“We need your help and we need your help now,” de Blasio told the school leaders and parent coordinators who listened in on the private call. “It’s going to be a historic moment for the public schools and we need your help to do it.”
Starting late next week, the city will add thousands of new pre-K seats at community-based organizations to the directory of providers also available to city parents. The new classes will be held in day-care centers, faith-based institutions, libraries and other locations.
Although the pre-K seats will be operated by private organizations, de Blasio assured principals and other school staffers that the community-run programs will be up to snuff.

Andrew Hinderaker/Andrew Hinderaker for The Wall S The first registration period for district-run pre-K programs has already passed, but de Blasio used the call to boost interest in community-based early childhood centers which will house about 60% of the city’s pre-K seats.

“They’re based on the same exact standards,” said de Blasio. “But they’re in centers all over and in locations all over the city and in each and every neighborhood.”
Parents who applied for pre-K seats in district schools will learn in early June if they landed a spot. Those who don’t get seats should sign up for pre-K in one of the community-based outfits, de Blasio said.
Those parents can learn more about the community-run programs by asking their school administrators, by contacting the city or by reaching out to the centers directly.
The city currently has about 20,000 free, full-day pre-K seats. De Blasio intends to more than double that number to 53,000 in September and aims to have 70,000 slots by September 2015.

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Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/mayor-de-blasio-pep-talk-school-staffers-pre-k-enrollment-boost-article-1.1804112#ixzz32e6Th0Zg