Getting your child into a pre-kindergarten program in New York City is a little like buying a summer home in Italy--when you've never been to Italy, don't speak Italian, and are flat broke. This year, the Department of Education decided to scrap the old application process, which officials deemed “confusing, unfair, and difficult to navigate”—and replaced it with a new system that’s confusing, unfair, and difficult to navigate.

While in the past parents submitted applications to individual schools, the new system streamlined the process by having parents submit a single application to a data processing center. But apparently, the streamlining process didn’t go as smoothly as one would hope.  Over the weekend, parents began receiving letters from the DOE about their child’s placement, many of which stated that none of the child’s preferred schools were available for reasons that would go unmentioned. In some cases, children were rejected from their local school or from schools that their older siblings already attended. Why? No one really knows.

Chin up, disgruntled parents: the DOE is on the case.

Photo: southofboston.net