Pre-K Students Avoid Lottery

With 52 children signed up by the May 20 deadline for full-day prekindergarten next year, the East Hampton School District has avoided a lottery to decide who would fill the 54 places it contracted for at the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center.

Robert Tymann, the district’s assistant superintendent, said the two remaining seats would be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Anyone who enrolls after those seats are taken will be placed on a waiting list, Mr. Tymann said in an email. “The waiting list will also be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis.”

East Hampton will pay the Eleanor Whitmore Center $9,100 per student, for a total of $491,400.  East Hampton had also signed a contract for 54 students  for the school year now ending, but eventually more than 60 were accommodated. The decision to limit prekindergarten to 54 students next year was based on cost rather than physical space.

When it renewed its contract with the center in April the district advised residents that it would only have funding for 54 children in the center’s classrooms. Officials announced that if more than 54 students wanted to enroll, a lottery would take place, in which each student would be assigned a number and the numbers randomly drawn.

“The East Hampton School District is pleased that we were able to meet the needs of our pre-K students without being required to conduct a lottery. A lottery may be necessary in future years but it will never be a comfortable means for selecting students,” Mr. Tymann said.