Some Parents Unaware of Free Pre-Kindergarten Programs

QUEENS, Oct. 7- Celia Benitez, a Mexican immigrant, wants to enroll Kimberly, her three-year-old daughter, in an educational program. Benitez believes education is vital, and wants her little girl to have an advantage.

“I don’t know where to start,” she said in Spanish.

Kimberly, wearing a pink sweater, played with a water balloon in Linden Park, in front of Public School 16, in Queens.

Benitez doesn’t know that there are universal pre-kindergarten programs across New York City, whose purpose is to prepare children for school. The programs are free and, in times when overcrowding and education seem to go together, they still have around 6,000 available seats.

 But the lack of information is preventing parents like Benitez from accessing them.

City officials are aware that more communication might be necessary to fill the empty seats by the Oct. 31^st deadline.

Finding a spot in a pre-kindergarten program can now be done by calling 311, said School Chancellor Joel I. Klein and other officials, at a press conference. The operators speak Spanish and another dozen languages. They will tell parents if there are empty seats in their neighborhoods. The information is also posted on www.nyc.gov. Children that are four years old or that will turn four before December 31^st can participate.

“Good pre-kindergarten classrooms help children gain mastery over pre-reading, reading and math, which are the building blocks of learning,” according to a press release from Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development Dennis Walcott.

Walcott acknowledged in an interview that part of the problem is that parents don’t know the programs are available. “In a city as large as New York, we are always making sure the information gets out there,” he said, adding that this was the purpose of the press conference held on Oct. 7 at the Hudson Guild, a community-based organization in Chelsea that provides pre-kindergarten services.

Some parents don’t know where to go or think they are not eligible, explained Miguel Pedraza-Cumba, interim executive director of the Hudson Guild. “They should come to centers like this and talk to us.”

In 1997, New York became the second state to pass laws regarding universal pre-kindergarten programs, defined as “2.5 hours of enriched educational services, at no cost to parents.” The programs have been implemented since 1998 in public schools, community-based organizations contracted by the Department of Education, and child-care centers contracted by the city’s Administration for Children Services.

The funds granted for the programs depend on the number of children enrolled. Last year, New York City received $249,078,274. There are 58,000 slots open this year, compared to 54,000 in 2007-2008, said the Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development Dennis Walcott.

About 1,000 of the empty seats are full-time (six hours and 20 minutes) versus 4,000 half-day (two and a half hours). If the 10% of available seats are not filled, the city will lose the funding for those spots.