UES Short On 3-K Seats As Deadline Nears, Councilman Worries

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The city's much-discussed plan to expand free preschool to three-year-olds across the city may be leaving out hundreds of Upper East Side kids, according to a neighborhood lawmaker.

Through the expansion, announced in March by Mayor Bill de Blasio, the city plans to open 3-K seats in each of the city's 32 school districts, serving 16,500 new students. (Currently, 3-K operates in 12 districts, serving about 23,500 children. Pre-K, serving four-year-olds, is free citywide).

School District 2, which covers the Upper East Side and most of Lower Manhattan, was among the areas set to benefit from 3-K for the first time thanks to the mayor's expansion.

But Upper East Side parents who try to register their youngsters ahead of the city's May 28 application deadline may be in for an unwelcome surprise: as of this week, the neighborhood had just three 3-K providers.

"I need Mayor de Blasio to be as freaked out about this as I am and as every other parent is," said City Councilmember Ben Kallos, adding that his office is getting emails "every single day" from parents fretting about the lack of seats.

About 1,000 Upper East Side children are enrolled in the city's universal Pre-K program, suggesting the need for 3-K is similarly high, Kallos said. But the demand is hard to quantify: many East Side parents have no nearby programs to apply to, so the city cannot say how many families want to sign up.

City maps show a greater concentration of 3-K facilities in lower-income neighborhoods like East Harlem, where de Blasio has said the city's initial expansion for the 2021-22 school year will focus. Kallos took no issue with that goal, but was rankled by the sparse coverage in his own neighborhood — especially after leading similar battles with the city over a lack of Pre-K seats.

"It's incredibly frustrating," he said.

School in vacant storefronts

Kallos's break with the city over the 3-K rollout is a stark departure from March. When de Blasio first announced the expansion, Kallos appeared alongside him, saying he wanted to give de Blasio "a big hug" for agreeing to meet Kallos's long-held goal.

Last week, Kallos wrote to de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter, asking the city to resolve the "crisis" by directing public schools to fill empty seats with 3-K students or open new 3-K contracts with existing Pre-K providers.

Those centers include Manhattan Schoolhouse, an East Side provider whose 84th Street location was selected for the 3-K expansion, but whose nearby 76th Street preschool was denied by the DOE because it had no existing contract, according to Kallos. The issue was raised by a parent who joined Kallos's public meeting earlier this month, asking him to fix the Upper East Side's "childcare desert."

The dozens of empty storefronts that litter the Upper East Side could also be converted into 3-K centers, according to Kallos, whose office compiled a list of vacant spaces that could be suitable.

City Hall did not respond to a request for comment. A Department of Education spokesperson said that since the city is rushing to expand 3-K by September, it can only open 3-K seats with providers who already had contracts for the next school year.

"We’re proud to provide high-quality Pre-K to every New York City family and we’re well on our way to universal 3-K access, working to reach as many children as possible in the new 3-K districts including District 2," spokesperson Sarah Casasnovas said. "There are currently forty-five 3-K programs in District 2, and we look forward to adding new seats in the coming years as we work toward universal access by fall 2023."

Still, Kallos said he worries the Upper East Side's childcare needs far outstrip the city's resources.

"If the real number that we’re working from is the 1,000 seats that we have for [Pre-K], then we’re in a lot of trouble," he said.