UES Parents Blindsided After DOE Drops French Language Program

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A group of parents say their children have been left stranded after the city's Department of Education abruptly dropped a French dual-language program that had been in the works for years.

The program's suspension, announced unexpectedly last week, leaves three dozen children enrolled in an existing dual-language pre-K without a compatible kindergarten to attend next year as the registration deadline rapidly approaches.

"Why start something that you don't want to finish?" said parent Nadia Faruqi Levy, whose child is enrolled in the pre-K program. "It's very heartbreaking."

The push for the program began in 2018, when parent Stéphane Lautner sensed an interest among fellow French-speaking families at P.S. 527 on the Upper East Side, where his child was a student. By the following year, parents say, the effort had won support from a cohort of elected officials, as well as Marisol Rosales, the executive superintendent for Manhattan's District 2 schools.

In early 2020, the city opened 36 seats for a dual-language pre-K program in the neighborhood. More than 110 families applied, hailing from more than 30 countries.

"I would characterize the demand for the program as overwhelming," Lautner said.

Organizers celebrated last fall when the pre-K opened its doors on East 76th Street, and families expected that their children would be able to continue smoothly into a kindergarten program for the 2021-22 school year. The group also settled on a likely host school: P.S. 290 on East 82nd Street.

Related: UES School Celebrates New Dual-Language French Program

Late last year, however, DOE leaders began wavering in their commitment, parents say. After kindergarten applications opened in December, dozens of parents wrote to Rosales, asking, "We have no information, what's going on, where do I send my child?" Lautner said.

After weeks of silence, parents received a short email from Rosales on Jan. 11 with a startling announcement: the program had been canceled, just eight days before the Jan. 19 deadline to apply for kindergarten next year.

"Really, it's over?"

Ninety parents joined a tense Zoom call the following day, where DOE leaders said the city lacked enough funding, space or demand for the program. The meeting was shut off abruptly after less than 90 minutes while a parent was in mid-sentence, according to a recording shared with Patch.

The explanations were unconvincing, according to parents, who said they had worked for months to respond to each of DOE's concerns. Levy said she suspected that the DOE was, in truth, afraid of angering District 2 parents by allowing out-of-district students to fill seats in the French program.

"They don't want to upset anybody who comes back and can't get into the good school that they're supposed to be zoned for," Levy said.

In a statement, DOE spokesperson Sarah Casasnovas said: "We have been exploring ways to open the potential kindergarten program for months, and after a thorough review process it was determined that due to a lack of existing resources and space the program is not sustainable long-term.

"We continue to explore other language learning opportunities in the district," Casasnovas said.

The pre-K program, meanwhile, will still accept its second class of students next fall.

Early supporters including City Councilmember Ben Kallos, Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer have all questioned the program's suspension.

"I'm disappointed at this news," Brewer said in a statement. "I'm extremely supportive of this program that a diverse group of parents have worked so hard [to] put together."

Levy said the decision remains hard to comprehend, given how much progress had been made even during a difficult year for the city's schools.

"Every single one of us enrolled in this school just feels like, 'Really, it’s over?'" she said. "What about what we started? What about the fact that my kid’s speaking French right now?"