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School cut off issue



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amother
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Post Wed, Feb 14 2018, 7:56 pm
I have a child in Pre-K with a mid-September birthday. He turned 4 like a week after school started. His current school has no cut off, though being in the latter half of the year he is one of the youngest in his class. We are moving in the summer and have been busy figuring out schools for our kids in the new community. Just found out that the schools here have a September 1 cut off. That means that had we been living there already, he would have started nursery this year and been the oldest rather than pre-K.

So I mentioned to the school that he's already in pre-K and doing great, so he shouldn't have to repeat. They did say that the few times they've made exceptions to their cut off have been in my situation- where the family moved in and the previous school had no cut off. They are open to putting him in K next year, but didn't sound terribly enthusiastic about it. I know it's really popular even with no cut off date to hold back kids with later birthdays, especially boys. But this boy does not need it. He is doing very well keeping up with the curriculum where he is and doing great socially (he's very popular). He is definitely more than capable of handling K next year. I don't want him to have to repeat pre-K. He'll just be really bored and I'm sure that won't bode well for his behavior.

How do I go about negotiating with the new school that he should be allowed to proceed and not be made to repeat? I don't want to come off as an annoying parent, but I feel quite strongly that he would be better off starting K in September.
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doctorima




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 14 2018, 8:01 pm
If they said they're open to doing it, then just push them to do it. It doesn't matter if they're enthusiastic or not. If there's precedent for doing it and they're willing to do so, just get it in writing before they change their mind. If there's any pushback, offer to either get them in touch with his current teacher, or have them meet him to evaluate him themselves.

You can always add that if at the end of next year they feel he's behind, you'll be happy to discuss holding him back another year at that point, but you at least want him to have the option of continuing from where he's at this year.
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cbg




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 14 2018, 11:56 pm
doctorima wrote:
If they said they're open to doing it, then just push them to do it. It doesn't matter if they're enthusiastic or not. If there's precedent for doing it and they're willing to do so, just get it in writing before they change their mind. If there's any pushback, offer to either get them in touch with his current teacher, or have them meet him to evaluate him themselves.

You can always add that if at the end of next year they feel he's behind, you'll be happy to discuss holding him back another year at that point, but you at least want him to have the option of continuing from where he's at this year.


I was going to say this, but then I thought. How will he feel. He'll know the kids that will go on to first grade.
At least if he repeats pre-k it's in a new school with new friends that don't know that he already was in pre-k
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doctorima




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 15 2018, 12:21 am
cbg wrote:
I was going to say this, but then I thought. How will he feel. He'll know the kids that will go on to first grade.
At least if he repeats pre-k it's in a new school with new friends that don't know that he already was in pre-k


Most likely he won't need to stay back. I just mentioned it as a line that OP can tell them to get them to go along with moving him ahead if they try to give her a hard time. And if after a year they really feel that he needs to be kept behind, it can be discussed at that time to determine what's best for him.

Even on the small odds that he will need to be held back, I believe it's still better to go through that than to risk the much larger odds that he's fine moving ahead, and to acquiesce to their pressure to hold him back before even giving him a chance.

It also won't come out of the blue. If OP hears midyear that he's struggling, she can work on getting him tutors, etc. to help him catch up so that he'll be on track by the end of the year.
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