CARL GLASSMAN / TRIBECA TRIB

P.S. 130 principal Lily Woo listens as a kindergartner reads to her. Jennifer Leung, the classroom teacher, said that Chinese is rarely spoken to the Chinese speaking children and after the first two months of class it is not necessary to speak Chinese at all.

[FOR PARENT RESPONSES ON THIS ISSUE, CLICK HERE]

More than two dozen Tribeca parents were shocked to learn in late May that their children likely won’t be going to kindergarten in the neighborhood. Parents of the 28 children on the waitlist for P.S. 234 received letters telling them that their kindergartners will instead be offered seats in Chinatown’s P.S. 130, at Baxter and Hester streets, just north of Canal Street.

[UPDATE: As of June 15, the number of parents on the waitlist was downt to 20, according to the P.S. 234 principal, Lisa Ripperger.]

“We’re very concerned,” said Marc Siden, whose daughter, Riley, received wating list number 34 in the lottery for admission in September. “We got blindsided by this and we don’t have a lot of time to make a decision. We don’t know enough about this school. It came out of left field.”

“I feel very sad and disappointed," said a mother whose son applied to P.S.234. “Everything we were told throughout the application process strongly suggested that one of the other Downtown schools [P.S. 276 in Battery Park City and P.S. 397 on Spruce Street] would be presented as the alternate school. These other schools were created specifically to address the overcrowding Downtown.”

Another mother, who also asked not to be identified, said she plans to petition the Department of Education, hoping to persuade them to use space at the new Spruce Street school for another kindergarten class.

“We’re just so disappointed,” she said. “We didn’t pursue private schools or gifted and talented programs because it’s very important to us to go to a school in the neighborhood.”

[EDITORS NOTE: To see letters from P.S. 130 parents responding to this article, click here.]

Some desperate Tribeca parents have even talked of renting apartments east of Broadway to qualify their children for the Spruce Street school.

According to the website insideschools.com, 89 percent of the students at P.S. 130 are Asian-Americans, 5 percent are of Hispanic heritage, 3 percent are white and 2 percent are African American. Like P.S. 234, it is academically one of the highest ranked schools in the city.
Through a vote of parents, most children wear a uniform of jeans and a blue t-shirt with the school but parents can opt out for their children by signing a permission slip. Unlike at Downtown’ four elementary schools, teacher are called by their surnames.

P.S. 234 has long been dealing with overcrowding, but this coming year fewer kindergarten seats will be available than the current school year. More than half the seats will be taken by siblings who receive automatic admission. In addition, the school added a kindergarten class this year that will not be available in September.

JESSICA TERRELL / TRIBECA TRIB

P.S. 130 parents at the entrance to their children's school.

“The brutal reality is that no one has any kindergarten seats Downtown,” said Magda Lenski, the parent coordinator at P.S. 234 who said she has had a constant stream of calls, emails and visits from disappointed parents. “These families are very surprised. No one thought P.S.130 was a possibility.”

Lisa Ripperger, principal of P.S. 234, agreed that no one, including herself, expected this to happen. “None of us knew there would not be enough seats Downtown. We are as surprised as anyone,” she said. But Ripperger also had nothing but praise for P.S. 130. “It has an excellent reputation and Principal Lily Woo is really outstanding. She runs a wonderful, quality school.”

Woo told the Trib that she encourages the Tribeca parents to take a look at her school before rejecting it. Parents have been invited to tour the school on Wednesday, June 1.

“I know it’s hard not to go to the neighborhood school but we welcome them if they want to come,” she said. “We are ranked in the top 1.5 percent of all elementary schools in New York City. The statistics speak for themselves.”

Woo said she also was surprised that the Tribeca students had been offered seats at her school. She had been expecting to fill an extra kindergarten class this year, but with applicants from outside the district who have siblings at the school. The classroom is available this year because there will be five 4th-grade classes next year instead of six.

P.S.130 on Baxter Street has a strong academic record but it only has rooftop outside space. As a result students do not have outdoor recess but Woo said they get plenty of physical activity. “We compensate for not having a yard with physical education in the gym and a dance program among other activities,” she said. “The kids are not chained to their chairs, they move a lot.”

Eric Greenleaf, a member of P.S.234’s overcrowding committee who is well known for his Downtown demographic studies, insists that P.S. 130 al­ready has its own crowding problems.

“It’s not fair to P.S. 130 and it’s not fair to the kids who applied to P.S.234,” said Greenleaf, adding that there should be options other than sending 4-year-olds to a school that would require them to cross busy Canal Street.

“P.S.130 is overcrowded and it’s far away,” he said. “A short-term solution might be that each kindergarten class Downtown takes one or two students. Charter schools are finding space Downtown, the DOE needs to find space, too.”

In response, a DOE spokeswoman issued this statement to the Trib: “PS 234 is a very popular school that received a high number of applications this year, and the reality is that it simply cannot accommodate all of those applications. As a result, alternate offers were made to the families of 29 students who had been waitlisted at PS 234 to PS 130, which is a very high quality school. PS 130 has received an “A” on each of its last three progress reports.”

Despite the school's reputation, parents have reservations about it. “The educational approach is very different,” said one mother. “They have a more traditional teaching style than the Downtown schools. If we knew P.S.130 was our only option we would have pursued private schools.” She is also concerned that the large numbers of English language learners at P.S.130 will affect her son. “What will he be learning while they are all learning English?” she asked.

In an email response to the reactions of waitlisted parents, a former P.S. 130 Parent Association co-chair, Kathleen Webster, praised the Chinatown school, noting that white children like hers “will be learning about an important culture, experiencing immigrant and US born…Chinese families (as well as Euro­pean, Latina/o and African Heritage families), making friends across class and race, acquiring a perspective outside of white minority culture…”

But for those still hoping for a place at P.S. 234, it could be a long, suspenseful summer. According to Ripperger, chances are not good for many of the children on the list. “I do expect a few seats might open up, maybe three or five,” she said, “but not more.”

—Carl Glassman contributed reporting.