Winnowing the Wait List, One Knock at a Time

The staff at P.S. 107 is doing its part to manage the school’s kindergarten waiting list by pounding the pavement – literally. 

Pat Mannino, the school’s Parent Coordinator, is currently making rounds to the homes of all children admitted to P.S. 107’s kindergarten, confirming that the children do, in fact, live within the school’s zone.

Mannino, who is usually accompanied by the school’s Administrator Yolanda Nappi, has completed forty such home visits, with more than fifty to go.  And that’s only counting the admitted kindergarten students.  Mannino also plans to visit the homes of all students on the kindergarten’s lengthy waiting list.  That’s a total of 140 homes in the school’s zone, which includes points from Sixth Avenue to Prospect Park West and from Seventh Street to Windsor Place. 

“It’s a lot of walking,” Mannino said.  “And everybody seems to live on the fourth floor.”

But all this hard work does appear to be paying off.  So far, two children have been removed from the admitted kindergarten class.  One family was turned in by another family, while a second was removed from the roster when P.S. 107’s home visit revealed that the address provided was not an actual residence. 

To prevent subterfuge, home visits are not scheduled in advance.  P.S. 107 also does not make public the details about how they are conducted, beyond noting that officials will ensure that the address in question is a residence and will ask to see the child’s bed (thus the term “bed checks”).  The school does not penalize families for being unavailable for surprise visits conducted during business hours.  However, to maintain the integrity of the process, their method for accommodating working families is also confidential.

Parents appear to be taking these procedures in stride.  “Everybody is very, very kind,” says Mannino.  “Very understanding.”

According to the DOE, home visits are authorized, but they are certainly not typical.  For the purposes of kindergarten admissions, residency is verified by families supplying any two of several approved forms of documentation such as gas or electric bills, a lease or mortgage statement. 

Home visits are usually reserved for circumstances where school officials have reason to believe a student’s residency is at issue.  At P.S. 321, another Park Slope elementary school, suspect cases are forwarded to the DOE for investigation on an as-needed basis. 

According to P.S. 39, home visits have historically been conducted only when parents are forced to rely on secondary proofs of residency, such as affidavits or bank statements. 

Of course, with 24 students still on P.S. 39’s kindergarten waiting list, it may be only a matter of time before school officials there find themselves pounding the pavement, too.