Bronx, N.Y.- Wednesday March 15th, local elected officials including Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, Council Member Andrew Cohen and State Senator Jeff Klein were alerted by many parents in the community that their children had been wait-listed for the September 2017 P.S. 24 Kindergarten class. By Friday, over 20 families had called the elected official’s respective offices citing concerns over similar letters that they had received stating that their children, who lived within the P.S. 24 school zone, would not be offered a seat at the school.

P.S. 24 is one of the best elementary schools in the Bronx and a compelling reason for young families to buy homes and move into the community. In many ways, the school’s accomplishments reflect the success of the community and its continued wellbeing is in the interest of everyone, whether they have children who attend the school or not. Unfortunately, in recent years, the school has experienced severe overcrowding, exacerbated by the DOE’s bungling of the Whitehall Annex lease as well as by the administration’s acceptance of high numbers of out-of-zone students.

Due to this overcrowding problem, 58 children residing in the P.S. 24 zone, including some who live across the street or around the corner, were put on a waiting list. This was unacceptable to all of the parents and the elected officials. After many meetings and conversations with District Superintendent, Maribel Hulla, Principal Steven Schwartz, and other DOE officials, the decision was made to reverse this ill-conceived plan and to offer seats at P.S. 24 to all 58 children.

“I am so pleased we were able to convince Dept. of Education officials to change their minds and to agree to accept the 58 zoned children of P.S. 24 that had been put on a waitlist. Every child in the school’s zone, without exception, has a right to attend their zoned school. I can only imagine what the parents went through these past few days. I applaud District 10 Superintendent Hulla and Principal Schwartz for doing the right thing for our community and for the families of these soon-to-be P.S. 24 students,” said Assemblyman Dinowitz.

“The Department of Education made the right decision to enroll all 58 zoned students in P.S. 24. All families within the zone should have the expectation that their children will be able to attend their local school,” said Council Member Andrew Cohen. “I’m thankful that Superintendent Hulla and Principal Schwartz listened to the concerns of the affected families and the local elected officials and we were able to quickly resolve this matter.”

“I’m thrilled that the Department of Education did the right thing by allowing 58 in-zone students enrollment at P.S. 24. When the children were inexplicably denied entry into this exceptional public school, myself, Assemblyman Dinowitz, Councilman Cohen and the families of the wait-listed students immediately demanded an explanation. Thankfully the issue was quickly resolved when several vacant classrooms were made available to the students,” said Senator Jeff Klein.