What’s your opinion on Mayor de Blasio’s universal pre-kindergarten program? As far as NYC Dads Group member Ariel Chesler is concerned, it’s a big flop.
Chesler, an attorney and writer who has contributed to our blog in the past, recently wrote in the New York Daily News about how the free education programs for have yet to reach his Upper East Side neighborhood after two years.
“It is my understanding from speaking to my local elected officials that Education Department administrators do not believe there is a need or demand for additional pre-K programs on the Upper East Side. They are wrong,” he wrote in the Feb. 23 opinion piece.
Read his piece “Pre-K for all? Not for my family” online, and tell us in the comments what your experience has (or hasn’t) been with the mayor’s program.
I could not agree more. While my daughter is now happily enrolled at an excellent public school kindergarten in midtown east, there were literally no public pre-K options that didn’t require either an absurdly long walk for a four year old or a commute. We were forced to utilize a private, community-based pre-K which, while very good, clearly did not fall under the Mayor’s mandate…and was pricey.
I recognize the difficulties in establishing such an expansive program. But please, Mr. Mayor, at least be honest: there are many neighborhoods across the city, of which mine is one, where “full, free, public pre-K” is but a dream.