Late last month, the Hoboken Public School District asked dozens of parents of pre-kindergarten age children to select their top three school choices for their kids.
“First they sent us a letter saying which pre-K school system our child would be in,” said Hoboken resident Suzanne Elwin last week. “My letter said my son would be in the Catapult [Learning] system. And we were told to pick three [school buildings] where we wanted our child to go. So, I picked three choices located downtown, close to the PATH station. It was only like five days later that I got a ‘final placement’ letter saying that my son was going to Brandt and no changes could be made.”
The Hoboken Board of Education works with three providers – Mile Square, Catapult Learning, and HOPES CAP, Inc. – to help run its Early Childhood Education Program.
Elwin, whose 3-year-old son Townshend will be entering pre-kindergarten for the first time, said Townshend’s placement at Joseph F. Brandt on Ninth Street, took her by surprise.
Elwin estimates it will take her 15 minutes to get to Brandt from her home, then another 15 to get to the PATH station.
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She lives downtown, just five minutes from the PATH.
“I felt that taking my son two blocks away from the PATH train, then walking to the PATH, would be more convenient than having to go uptown to get him to school,” Elwin added.
One reason Elwin was surprised by the Townshend’s placement at Brandt, she said, was that an assistant in the Hoboken Board of Education office had assured her that parents typically get one of their top three choices.
Elwin sent an e-mail to Interim Schools Superintendent Peter E. Carter after receiving notification of her son’s school placement, but she said she never received a reply.
Carter responds
As it turned out, Elwin wasn’t the only parent concerned about her child’s pre-school assignment.
In an open letter dated Aug. 11 and posted to the Board of Education web site, Carter wrote: “Dear Parents of our Early Childhood students: It has come to my attention that about 15-20 of you are angry because the system had to move your child from Rue to Brandt. THIS IS NOT THE FAULT OF OUR NEW DIRECTOR, nor should she be taking the brunt of your ire. In fact, I am concerned that there is this much angst, given the fact that Early Childhood is a free program initially intended for the State’s ‘at risk’ Abbott pre-schoolers…”
He added, “For those for whom Brandt has become a new school, we know that your child[ren] will be very happy there, and learn just as much as at Rue.”
One parent complained about the use of capital letters and the fact that the letter made it seem as though no one should complain because the program was free.
More 3-year-olds than expected
Carter explained last week why some parents received one of their top school choices while others did not.
The school district, he said, did pre-registration for the program back in April, “and we had a pretty good idea – we thought – of who’s coming into the pre-kindergarten program. As it turned out, we had a larger number of 3-year-olds than we expected.”
By state law, 3-year-old pre-kindergarteners must be placed in classrooms that are no higher than the first floor of a school building.
“As the program expanded, we didn’t want to reject 3-year-olds, which we could have done,” Carter continued.
Instead, he said, the district had to be creative about where children were placed, and couldn’t guarantee that every family received their top school selections.
Reassignments can only be made, he added, if parents ultimately decide not to participate in the program and alert the school district to give that placement to another student.
Mother skeptical
Elwin said she only accepts Carter’s explanation “if they stand by it. Don’t tell me my son needs to go to this school because of regulations and, because of his age, he needs to be on a lower floor, when my neighbor four doors down was able to get her child reassigned with a few phone calls.”
When the Reporter asked to speak to the neighbor, Elwin said she didn’t feel comfortable putting the media in touch with that parent.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.