On the first day of school at Uncommon Bed-Stuy Pre-K, teachers and school leaders lined up to greet the new students with a handshake, a hug, or a fist bump.
As children return to school across Brooklyn this week, the scene of teachers greeting incoming excited, and sometimes apprehensive children is not uncommon. But what is unusual is that the preschool is available to parents of public charter students.
For the past three years, the New York City Department of Education has frozen funding for new universal pre-K programs. As a result, Uncommon was left with no other option than to fully self-fund the three programs it has launched in the years since. These sites, in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, offer free, high-quality, full-day pre-K and after care.
“We made this commitment because of the ongoing and urgent need in the communities we serve”, said Oluwabumi Ajayi, the interim director of pre-K at Uncommon Schools. “While we remain hopeful that the school system will reinstate funding so we can pour more resources into our programs and reach even more families, we are committed to doing our part to provide excellent pre-K opportunities to as many children as possible.”
The high-performing charter school network operates 23 schools serving grades K-12 and now 3 pre-K programs in Brooklyn with more than 8,000 students. Uncommon is well-known for preparing students to get to and through college, with nearly all their high school graduates moving on to college.
Even in preschool, students are introduced to college. Each of their classrooms is named after a college or university from around the country.
Uncommon pre-K programs have been fully enrolled, often with waitlists, demonstrating the continued and urgent demand for high-quality pre-K, Ajayi added.
“We offer free before- and after-care and have worked hard to build a truly caring and enriching environment,” Ajayi said. “I believe that is why families are seeking us out.”
Bed-Stuy Pre-K, the newest site to launch this August, has 54 students enrolled in three classes. Across Brooklyn, 216 pre-k students are enrolled at three different facilities.
The newest preschool opened on Macon Street to meet the growing demand for seats in the surrounding Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Last year, Uncommon Schools opened a standalone preschool at Uncommon Excellence on Patchen Avenue in the neighborhood, but demand quickly exceeded capacity.
“We had to turn away a lot of families from Excellence and put them on a wait list,” Ajayi said. “We decided to put a new preschool here in the heart of Bed-Stuy, where families can still be served and get off that wait list.”
For parents, the free preschool has been a godsend.
Angela Morgan’s daughter, Sasha, was one of the students who started at Uncommon Bed-Stuy Pre-K this week. Her other daughter, Silene, was enrolled in Uncommon School’s preschool program at Excellence.
“Silene did preschool last year and she absolutely loved it, so it was a no-brainer to have her sister follow her,” Morgan said. “The first week of pre-K Silene actually learned to write her name. I was so impressed with that.”
Morgan, a working mom, said that having access to before-care and after-care has made her life easier.
“They finish at 3:45, but I am free to pick them up at 5 p.m., which is perfect for me in case I have to work late,” she said.
Milika Lee, whose son was also starting his first day at preschool, has been an Uncommon parent for several years; her ten-year-old is entering fifth grade at Uncommon Bed-Stuy West Middle School.
“I’ve decided to put him into preschool because this school has shown so much love to my family,” She said. “It’s so family-oriented. The staff will always communicate with the parents. It just feels like family to me.”
Ajayi said students who start preschool with Uncommon are at a distinct advantage when they enter kindergarten. Some finish the school year capable of counting to 100 and knowing sight words, which puts them on a first-grade reading level.
“If we’re thinking about social emotional learning, they’re having a great ability to develop relationships and get to know each other,” Ajayi said. “So kindergarten is not a huge leap. It just feels just like an easy flow through when they come into kindergarten from our preschools.”
Uncommon Schools continues to hope the New York City Department of Education will relaunch the application for funding new pre-K seats, which historically opened in October for the following school year. In the meantime, Uncommon Schools is committed to providing this invaluable opportunity to families in Brooklyn to ensure their students are on the path from Pre-K to 12, to college, and beyond
If you are interested in learning more about Uncommon Schools pre-K, you can go to: https://nyc.uncommonschools.org/prek/
