Open season for families: what parents need to know about preschool open houses in Kent County and the fallout after NYC schools reopened

Parents and caregivers are first in line for two very different school decisions this week: whether to enroll 4-year-olds in tuition-free preschool programs that are now open for enrollment in Kent County, and how to respond after New York City returned to in-person classes one day after a powerful winter storm. The choices hit families on the ground—scheduling, transport and safety are the immediate pressures.

Open houses, emergency reopenings — how these developments hit families first

Here’s the part that matters: for Kent County families with 4-year-olds, the open-house schedule creates a narrow window to compare programs and claim spots; for Staten Island families, the decision to resume in-person classes after heavy snow forced immediate questions about safety and access. What parents do in the next few days will largely determine whether children have stable preschool placements or face classroom absences and transit barriers.

Event details: times, locations and the storm-driven reopening

Kent County: Families with children who turn 4 by Dec. 1 are invited to Kent ISD Great Start Readiness Program open houses. The “PreK Here I Come!” events run 4: 15–5: 45 p. m. on Thursday, Feb. 26 and 9–11 a. m. on Friday, Feb. 27, at locations across Kent County and in the Thornapple Kellogg school district area; some locations are open both days. All families qualify for tuition-free pre-K for their 4-year-olds through Michigan’s PreK for All initiative. Enrollment for the next school year is open now and continues while classroom spots remain available.

New York City: Public schools resumed in-person learning on Tuesday, one day after a powerful winter storm that blanketed parts of the city with over 20 inches of snow. The Grasmere section of Staten Island recorded nearly 30 inches—the highest total across the five boroughs. The decision to reopen prompted sharp criticism from local officials, parents and union leaders, especially in Staten Island.

Kent County logistics: where slots exist and how programs run

• Enrollment scope: Families can enroll 4-year-olds in full-day preschool classrooms across public districts, private and charter districts, community-based organizations such as YMCA, and child care centers such as Appletree and Milestones.
• Schedule patterns: Most locations offer preschool Monday through Thursday; select Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) classrooms operate Monday through Friday.
• Contact and follow-up: Families are encouraged to learn more about openings and schedules by contacting GSRP at 616-447-2409 or by visiting freepreschoolkent. org. (Enrollment remains open while classroom spots are available. )
• Regional footprint: The effort covers the 20 public school districts in the Kent ISD area: Byron Center, Caledonia, Cedar Springs, Comstock Park, East Grand Rapids, Forest Hills, Godfrey-Lee, Godwin Heights, Grand Rapids, Grandville, Kelloggsville, Kenowa Hills, Kent City, Kent ISD, Kentwood, Lowell, Northview, Rockford, Sparta, Thornapple Kellogg and Wyoming.
• District contact point: Kent ISD administrative address appears as 2930 Knapp NE, Grand Rapids MI 49525.

It’s easy to overlook, but many openings exist across public, private and community providers in the area—so families who miss the first open house may still find placements, though spots are not guaranteed.

Staten Island consequences and transit breakdown after the storm

Local leaders criticized the city’s decision to reopen schools when Staten Island had some of the worst conditions. Staten Island’s Borough President Vito Fossella said officials had asked City Hall for an exemption that would allow Staten Island schools to remain closed while other boroughs reopened, but they were met with silence. He characterized the city’s snow response as horrible and described reopening as a big mistake that put families at risk.

On the ground, main roads were largely cleared in parts of the borough, but many residential streets remained snow-covered or impassable; cars were buried under heavy drifts and some driveways were still blocked by plowed snow. Fossella highlighted that secondary and tertiary streets were impassable and noted Staten Island’s car-dependent makeup—one- and two-family homes rather than high-rise urban living—arguing a one-size policy did not fit his borough.

Transit disruptions were pronounced: the Staten Island Railway suspended service between Tottenville and Huguenot, with trains running north on an hourly schedule, and buses were seen stranded on snow-covered streets. Attendance fell sharply at some schools on Staten Island, with reports of up to 90% absence at certain schools and roughly 70% absence at some intermediate schools on the South Shore. Elsewhere, a Long Island Rail Road worker was seen clearing snow as the system closed in Queens.

Key takeaways

• Parents in Kent County: the GSRP open houses (Feb. 26–27) are the practical first step to lock in tuition-free PreK placements for children who turn 4 by Dec. 1; enrollment remains open while spots exist.
• Program variety: full-day classrooms are available across public districts, private/charter options, YMCA sites and child-care centers such as Appletree and Milestones.
• Families in Staten Island: the rapid return to in-person classes after a storm that left some neighborhoods with nearly 30 inches of snow created immediate access and safety challenges, reflected in steep attendance drops and suspended rail service between Tottenville and Huguenot.
• Next signals that could shift choices: additional local closures, restored transit service or district-level exemptions would change family plans; monitoring local school communications and GSRP contact lines is the practical route forward.

If you’re wondering why this keeps coming up, the contrast is instructive: one area is opening enrollment windows under routine program rules; another is grappling with whether scheduled reopenings matched ground conditions after a major storm. The real question now is how districts and families balance program access with daily safety and transit realities.

What’s easy to miss is the operational detail that matters most to parents: schedule patterns (Mon–Thu vs. Mon–Fri), where full-day slots are offered, and whether local transit can actually deliver students to school. Those three items will shape attendance and enrollment decisions in the immediate days ahead.