Reductions in kindergarten waitlists spread across city, minus the Bronx

Last year, P.S. 19 in Queens put 109 prospective kindergarten students on a waiting list. This year, its waiting list is nonexistent.

Kindergarten waiting lists plummeted this year thanks to a new application process, the Department of Education announced on Monday. New data, released Wednesday, show that those decreases were spread out across the city’s most crowded city school districts, though the Bronx actually added students to its waitlist totals.  

Across Queens, as many as 652 fewer students are on waiting lists this year. P.S. 19 saw the largest decrease, and waitlists were eliminated entirely in most of the 105 schools that had waitlists last year, according to the data.

There are a few outliers, however. Waiting lists at more than 40 schools increased, a few significantly. 

The Upper West Side’s P.S. 199 saw its list more than double, from 39 to 98 students. P.S. 7 in Kingsbridge has 59 students on its waiting list after having just six last year. And 30 schools had students on waiting lists after having none at all last year. 

The Bronx is the only borough where waitlist totals increased, by a total of 74 students across the borough.

One reason for the increase at some of the outlier schools could be more families with young children moving into the area. But experts said the increases could also be due to the new enrollment process, which didn’t require parents to verify their addresses when submitting their application. Pamela Wheaton of InsideSchools, a web site that closely tracks the city’s enrollment and admissions policies, said that some parents may have entered addresses zoned for more popular schools, contributing to a few spikes. 

The Department of Education didn’t immediately respond to questions seeking clarification about schools with larger waitlists.

The school-by-school data is below: