{"id":102679,"date":"2026-01-16T21:47:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102679\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:47:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:47:28","slug":"after-years-of-advocacy-city-island-launches-first-ever-3-k-program-at-p-s-175-bronx-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102679\/","title":{"rendered":"After years of advocacy, City Island launches first-ever 3-K program at P.S. 175 \u2013 Bronx Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>City Island parents with 3-year-olds now have the opportunity to send their young children to school as the neighborhood launched its first 3-k program in the fall of 2025 at <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/schools.nyc.gov\/ps175\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">P.S. 175<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>New York City\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.schools.nyc.gov\/enrollment\/enroll-grade-by-grade\/3k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">3-K program<\/a> \u2014 a free, full day program for 3-year-olds in the city \u2014\u00a0began in 2017. In the Bronx, enrollment included 5,957 children in non-Family Child Care Network (FCCN) programs and 1,185 children in FCCN programs.<\/p>\n<p>Across the borough, 255 schools offered 3-K, along with 490 family childcare providers in the Bronx and 1,447 providers citywide.\n<\/p>\n<p>On City Island, there is one 3-K program, which enrolled 17 students with a capacity of 18 seats in both fall of 2025 and fall of 2026.\n<\/p>\n<p>For six years, Bronx Assembly Member Michael Benedetto, chair of the New York Assembly\u2019s Education Committee, advocated for 3-K on City Island.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy staff and I, in coordination with community-based groups on City Island, have been pushing for 3PK and UPK services in this neighborhood since they were lost pre-pandemic,\u201d Benedetto said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am grateful that, after extensive discussion with the Department of Education and continuous prodding by my office, they saw the need for this program on City Island.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>One parent, Theresa Cavinee, is quite pleased about the new 3-K program at P.S. 175 and spoke with the Bronx Times on how the program has impacted her family and others on the island.\n<\/p>\n<p>According to Cavinee, not having 3-K in the community has been an issue for many parents. Finding childcare and or paying for daycare is not easy or cheap, she said.\n<\/p>\n<p>Now parents with toddlers can breathe a sigh of relief, Cavinee said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve never really had any pre-school on the island for anyone under 3-years-old,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has been a much-needed addition to the community.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>While Cavinee only lives a few blocks from the school, the 3-K program makes her life much easier, she said. It allows her son Daniel to attend school, receive an education and make friends.\n<\/p>\n<p>The 3-K program was long overdue on the island, and she hopes it expands to other neighborhoods in the Bronx.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a welcome surprise,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been asking for this for a long time. Daniel has had a great experience and loves going to school there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City Island parents with 3-year-olds now have the opportunity to send their young children to school as the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[10882,46961,128,183,9,24,63,46962,129,131,130,46963],"class_list":{"0":"post-102679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-3-k","9":"tag-assembly-member-michael-benedetto","10":"tag-bronx","11":"tag-city-island","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-p-s-175","16":"tag-the-bronx","17":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","18":"tag-the-bronx-news","19":"tag-theresa-cavinee"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}