(The bus may take off without siblings in NYC)

A quick follow-up to New York City's pre-kindergarten woes: Turns out the New York City Department of Education got confused about who had siblings in the same school this year, and now must straighten out complaints from parents whose children were denied a pre-kindergarten spot in the school their older child already attends.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein had announced earlier this year he was overhauling pre-kindergarten admission in the city, promising to replace what he called a "confusing, unfair and difficult to navigate,'' process with something simpler.

Instead, he's got a lot of angry parents, calls for a probe from Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and a whole lot of four-year-olds with no place to go next fall, according to stories in both the New York Daily News and the New York Times.

Some 20,000 parents applied for about 23,000 pre-kindergarten slots in the city and an untold number got rejection letters saying no slots were available. Many went to those with brothers and sisters in the programs -- who, according to the new system, were supposed to be given priority under the new system.

The Department of Education has now agreed to review some 9,000 applications -- and appears to be blaming the problem on mistakes parents made filling out forms or listing two different addresses.

A simpler process?