How to “redshirt” in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to think it was about parents wanting to give their own kid a benefit over other kids, but now I think it is more about parents doing the only thing they can do (red shirt their kid) in response to a changes to education that have made kindergarten much more academic and therefore increasing the number of children who are simply not ready.

if your child is not ready for Fundations at 5, then you should get them evaluated.

The truth is, affluent parents don’t believe their kids should have to learn much in K.

But there may be nothing wrong with a boy - they may just need more time. Having boys who can't sit still in kindergarten is not really great for the other kids either.

Kids need to be taught the skills and by 5 they should have learned them at home and preschool. So, if your kid cannot sit school or go to K at 5, they need to be evaluated and get therapies and possibly meds.

Yes let’s medicate 5 year old boys because they can’t sit still at a desk for hours a day. Genius idea.

That’s your choice to medicate your 5 year old because you cannot tolerate him not being the best kid in class.

No. PP said the solution to kids not being ready for K is to medicate them. My solution is to not send them.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would use free prek3 and prek4 and then repeat prek4 if needed at a private school.

And then stay in private? Because if you send your first grade age kid to the school they won't put them in Kindergarten.

The most absurd version of this I've seen is a family that moved from another state with a kid with a late September birthday. In their previous state the cut off was. Sept. 1, so he hadn't been to Kindergarten. He also hadn't had much of any preschool, because he had severe ADHD and was kicked out of every school he tried.

DCPS forced him into first grade, and then refused to evaluate for an IEP, based on the fact that they claimed his mother had "neglected" him by not sending him to Kindergarten the year before.

This is abuse. By DCPS.

It was not DCPS as a whole but the school. My school would never do this. As long as the child would not be turning 7 in the school year they’d be put in K.

you do realize that "not at my school" is an anecdote and means nothing in the grand scheme?
DCPS was doing this around the entire city

I am sure you know what goes on for 100+ schools 😂

I sure do - my sample size is quite large and is representative of all 8 wards. Equating 1 experience to all =/= taking a substantial sample size and making reasonable conclusions

I have worked in 7 wards and I have hundreds of teacher friends and colleagues.

I absolutely know better than you about what goes behind the scenes in DCPS. But we do not have to agree. My final words to you are some kids don’t need an IEP they are just behind or have experienced trauma. Not all kids are entitled to an IEP, legally we do have to evaluate. DCPS does love to be sued but it’s generally not for refusing to evaluate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would use free prek3 and prek4 and then repeat prek4 if needed at a private school.

And then stay in private? Because if you send your first grade age kid to the school they won't put them in Kindergarten.

The most absurd version of this I've seen is a family that moved from another state with a kid with a late September birthday. In their previous state the cut off was. Sept. 1, so he hadn't been to Kindergarten. He also hadn't had much of any preschool, because he had severe ADHD and was kicked out of every school he tried.

DCPS forced him into first grade, and then refused to evaluate for an IEP, based on the fact that they claimed his mother had "neglected" him by not sending him to Kindergarten the year before.

This is abuse. By DCPS.

It was not DCPS as a whole but the school. My school would never do this. As long as the child would not be turning 7 in the school year they’d be put in K.

Maybe before but recently DCPS has repeatedly and publicly stated that this is forbidden district wide.

Except what they say and what schools actually do can be vastly different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to think it was about parents wanting to give their own kid a benefit over other kids, but now I think it is more about parents doing the only thing they can do (red shirt their kid) in response to a changes to education that have made kindergarten much more academic and therefore increasing the number of children who are simply not ready.

Really hard to parse the issue out. In most states, you cannot play high school sports your senior year if you turn 19 before the school age cutoff date. If you changed that rule to 18, ii would wager. wager red shirting would be limited to the kids who are truly outliers and need it. Right now, red shirting is a mostly a cost less option with only upside to the red shirted child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would use free prek3 and prek4 and then repeat prek4 if needed at a private school.

And then stay in private? Because if you send your first grade age kid to the school they won't put them in Kindergarten.

The most absurd version of this I've seen is a family that moved from another state with a kid with a late September birthday. In their previous state the cut off was. Sept. 1, so he hadn't been to Kindergarten. He also hadn't had much of any preschool, because he had severe ADHD and was kicked out of every school he tried.

DCPS forced him into first grade, and then refused to evaluate for an IEP, based on the fact that they claimed his mother had "neglected" him by not sending him to Kindergarten the year before.

This is abuse. By DCPS.

It was not DCPS as a whole but the school. My school would never do this. As long as the child would not be turning 7 in the school year they’d be put in K.

you do realize that "not at my school" is an anecdote and means nothing in the grand scheme?
DCPS was doing this around the entire city

I am sure you know what goes on for 100+ schools 😂

I sure do - my sample size is quite large and is representative of all 8 wards. Equating 1 experience to all =/= taking a substantial sample size and making reasonable conclusions

I have worked in 7 wards and I have hundreds of teacher friends and colleagues.

I absolutely know better than you about what goes behind the scenes in DCPS. But we do not have to agree. My final words to you are some kids don’t need an IEP they are just behind or have experienced trauma. Not all kids are entitled to an IEP, legally we do have to evaluate. DCPS does love to be sued but it’s generally not for refusing to evaluate.

If kids are behind they need to be evaluated and given support. Many do have more going on. If they have trauma, they need mental health support or the trauma can impact learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:D.C. officially ends redshirting for kindergartners

https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/07/01/dcps-kindergarten-redshirting-rules

The fact that this became a thing is.....something. My kid has a late bday and an IEP and by default was 'red shirted'. Did pk4 twice. I was initially bummed about it but there was nothing I could do to get DS skipped despite DS being advanced academically. But i'm glad it worked out the way it did because the year started off rocky but ended amazing maturity wise. Kids are just that, KIDS. They mature on their own and for a parent to assume so much about a human being that is constantly evolving is peak tiger parent behavior. I personally don't care about age, and I can admit I had to unlearn that.

Also, DS teachers recognized his advanced ability and gave him work on his level while he learned the concepts for what he already knew which in hindsight is very important. DS is going to Kindergarten and I know they'll be some new things he will experience (schedule wise) that he will have to adjust to but that's life right? It's not fluid.

I understand both sides of the argument but one side is increasingly imo kind of gross.

If your kid did pk4 twice, then they repeated a grade. They were not redshirted. There's a huge distinction between starting on time and then repeating, as opposed to purposefully holding back your kid and entering them a year late (i.e., redshirting)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would use free prek3 and prek4 and then repeat prek4 if needed at a private school.

And then stay in private? Because if you send your first grade age kid to the school they won't put them in Kindergarten.

The most absurd version of this I've seen is a family that moved from another state with a kid with a late September birthday. In their previous state the cut off was. Sept. 1, so he hadn't been to Kindergarten. He also hadn't had much of any preschool, because he had severe ADHD and was kicked out of every school he tried.

DCPS forced him into first grade, and then refused to evaluate for an IEP, based on the fact that they claimed his mother had "neglected" him by not sending him to Kindergarten the year before.

This is abuse. By DCPS.

It was not DCPS as a whole but the school. My school would never do this. As long as the child would not be turning 7 in the school year they’d be put in K.

Maybe before but recently DCPS has repeatedly and publicly stated that this is forbidden district wide.

Forbidden? They have?

Where?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was not DCPS as a whole but the school. My school would never do this. As long as the child would not be turning 7 in the school year they’d be put in K.

Maybe before but recently DCPS has repeatedly and publicly stated that this is forbidden district wide.

Forbidden? They have?

Where?

See the giant thread about Lafayette on this board, or it's summarized in this article: https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/07/01/dcps-kindergarten-redshirting-rules

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was not DCPS as a whole but the school. My school would never do this. As long as the child would not be turning 7 in the school year they’d be put in K.

Maybe before but recently DCPS has repeatedly and publicly stated that this is forbidden district wide.

Forbidden? They have?

Where?

See the giant thread about Lafayette on this board, or it's summarized in this article: https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/07/01/dcps-kindergarten-redshirting-rules

It seems to be a fairly recent change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was not DCPS as a whole but the school. My school would never do this. As long as the child would not be turning 7 in the school year they’d be put in K.

Maybe before but recently DCPS has repeatedly and publicly stated that this is forbidden district wide.

Forbidden? They have?

Where?

See the giant thread about Lafayette on this board, or it's summarized in this article: https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/07/01/dcps-kindergarten-redshirting-rules

It seems to be a fairly recent change.

The district policy is not a change. There were pockets of principals (mostly at wealthy schools from what I have seen) quietly allowing it, but it always violated district policy.

[Anonymous]

DCPS is terrible. Go to private to avoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is terrible. Go to private to avoid.

Well that was helpful. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to think it was about parents wanting to give their own kid a benefit over other kids, but now I think it is more about parents doing the only thing they can do (red shirt their kid) in response to a changes to education that have made kindergarten much more academic and therefore increasing the number of children who are simply not ready.

Really hard to parse the issue out. In most states, you cannot play high school sports your senior year if you turn 19 before the school age cutoff date. If you changed that rule to 18, ii would wager. wager red shirting would be limited to the kids who are truly outliers and need it. Right now, red shirting is a mostly a cost less option with only upside to the red shirted child.

DC allows 19 year olds to play sports.

[Anonymous]

This thread made it into WaPo: https://wapo.st/405wrSF

[Anonymous]

The comments on the WaPo article seem pretty overwhelmingly to oppose DCPS’s stance, whereas here on this thread it has seemed a majority support DCPS. Interesting.

They keep saying that the youngest kids benefit from starting later, but of course red shirting just makes another cohort — e.g., the April and May birthdays — the youngest kids, who themselves would then benefit if they started later. I have yet to see a convincing response to that.