Reply to How strict is FCPS on kindergarten age?

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Reply to "How strict is FCPS on kindergarten age?"

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[quote=Anonymous]Oh, don't get me started on this issue LOL!

Our DD has a late Oct birthday. She did 2 full years of preschool and loved it. We happened to live in CA the summer before her 5th birthday. CA's cut off is Dec, so she was able to start Kinder in Aug at the age of 4 (turning 5 that Oct). It was full day, year round school there. She did amazing in school even though she was one of the youngest, top of her class in most subject and socially well adjusted.

We moved to FCPS in late Jan of that school year. FCPS would NOT let our daughter continue in Kindergarten that year. Our local ES was very supportive, but the county shot them down and rejected her enrollment!

I fought up the chain of command so to speak, every time someone told me no, I asked to speak to their boss.

The final answer I got was basically that is was a money issue. That the state does not give funding for kids who are past the benchmark and that "FCPS already has such a large population of students" that they basically could not afford to "eat the cost" of my child! (I will say this, Ido not know if that information is true, it was just what I was told at the time)

Then it was not so nicely stated that more than likely my child wouldn't be able to keep up with FCPS kids since she was "coming from a California public school". UGGGG

Our local ES advised us if our DD had completed kindergarten elsewhere, that they would be willing to "test her into first grade" the following year. I asked if I could home school her for the remaining part of the year, and they said no. Partially because they wanted to hear from her teachers to make sure she was socially ready.

We ended up enrolling her in a private school to complete the year. In May we had her evaluated by a 1st grade teacher at our local ES and the guidance counselor (along with report cards from her other schools and letters from teachers).

Needless to say, they enrolled her into 1st grade the following year.

I can't begin to tell you all the crap we got from people for "pushing our child". There was no pushing, she was barely past the cut off, and legitimately started school at the right age for where we lived at the time.

Our DD has flourished, so much so she is in the pool for the AAP for 3rd grade.

I would say to wait to see how your child is at that time and move accordingly. I am glad we had our DD start school when she did - for her it was perfect...for others it may not be!

Good luck to you.[/quote]

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