Mayor De Blasio, Farina welcome kids back to school as universal pre-K launches
NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina are welcoming students back to class Thursday as the mayor's universal pre-K program kicks off.
It is the first day of school for most of the city's 1.1 million public school students.
De Blasio and Farina are each visiting schools in different neighborhoods to greet students and staff.
"First of all, I wast to say that September has always been my favorite month," Farina said in a video letter sent out on social media. "Most importantly, I really raised the bar and have high expectations for everyone."
Thursday is also a big day for de Blasio because thousands of prekindergarten students are attending school in buildings that never had pre-K classes before.
Expanding access to pre-K was de Blasio's signature issue when he ran for mayor last year.
De Blasio's grand experiment gives 54,000 4-year-olds a big jump on education.
The first school he visited was the Inner Force School in East New York.
"We don't need TVs or video games raising our children," Inner Force's Dr. Gary Ellis said. "We need them to be in a structured environment, where they can pick up the skill set that will stay with them for lifelong."
De Blasio calls the expansion historic and says it will change lives, but it is not without flaws. And there are other changes that parents are not happy about.
Two to three dozen pre-K centers will delay openings to next week, and nine centers are banned due to safety concerns or financial questions.
Rainbow Montessori in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx is one of the banned centers.
"Don't jeopardize these kids who are supposed to be starting school," a school official said. "Parents have to go to work. I've had parents crying."
Some parents don't know what they will do.
"I don't know what the problem is," parent Navahjo Stoller said. "I wish somebody would communicate with us what the actual problem is."
New York City is the largest school district in the nation, and the mayor says any last-minute problems will be solved.
"For the families who are still waiting for their situation to be resolved, we pledge to get this done very quickly and resolve their issues," de Blasio said. "We have people working non-stop right now to do it."
Additionally, more than 450 schools have changed their start time. Instead of starting around 8:30 a.m., they will start as early as 8 a.m. to accommodate the city's new contract with teachers. It calls for more teacher development and more parent-teacher conferences within the contracted school day, which is 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Many parents say that is simply too early.
For information on registering your child for school in New York: Schools.NYC.Gov
