Is it possible to do 2 years of kindergarten in BVSD? (Boulder: neighborhood, best schools)

[andrea r]

Hello,
We're relocating to Boulder from the Bay Area and have a son who will turn 5 Aug 23rd. We were planning on having him do 2 years of kindergarten--once at our public neighborhood school and the second year at the (public) charter school our other children attend (so he can enter kinder as a young 6 yr old vs a young 5 yr old).
How can we do this in the Boulder area? Do we need to do 1 year of private kindergarten? I'm guessing you can't elect to do 2 years of kindergarten w/o the district approving that there is good reason to retain and not move on to 1st grade.

Are there any strong Charter schools we should look into? We're trying to avoid private school tuition and to utilize the public school system if possible. Any ideas would be great!

[brown_dog_us]

Hello!

If you go to a public kindergarten you and the school staff would have to agree to hold the child back. The upside is that if your child is doing well they can continue with their peers.

I know a few kids that went to private school for kindergarten and then enrolled in kindergarten at the public school, so you can go that route.

As for the charter schools, There is Peak-to-Peak in Lafayette. There is a lottery for spots at the school, so it's best to have a fall back option. This is probably a good time to mention that Colorado allows children to "choice" into a different school if there is space. This is an option, but enrollment is in January for the following school year and spots in the best schools are very tough to get. It's generally better to live in a place where the local school is good enough and try to choice into a different school.

[kristin1]

Welcome to Colorado. We moved from the Bay area to Boulder a few years ago, so I am familiar with the "two years of kindergarten" trend in the Bay area. Approximately 1/3 of my oldest child's kindergarten class in a parochial school in the Bay area had already completed a full year of public school kindergarten. Parents would call it "free school" instead of "preschool". But that was doing public/parochial. I don't know anywhere in the Bay area that would allow you to do two years of public kindergarten, even in a charter school.

I've have never heard of this trend in Boulder. It may be done, I just have not seen it. But I cannot imagine BVSD allowing you to spend tax payers money on two years of kindergarten by choice. There are some preschool programs that run out of elementary schools, but these are for a fee.

My daughter is an October birthday, and she was 4 when she started kindergarten. She is a year younger than many of her BVSD classmates, the trend here is definitely to hold kids back. There are no other young fall birthdays in her class. She is doing well, but had she been a boy we would have held her back. My current BVSD kindergartener has 5 boys in his class who turned 7 during the K school year. Seven in kindergarten!

Peak to Peak is definitely one of the better charter schools, but very competitive. We've tried for 3 years to get in - it was supposed to get easier to get into middle school but we had no luck with open enrollment for MS either year. High Peaks Elementary, a fantastic "school of choice" is another one worth looking into, though not technically a charter school. Horizons and BCSIS are both well regarded, but I don't have personal experience with either of these.

Obviously, your best bet is to move into an area with good neighborhood schools. If we could do it again, we would have moved to South Boulder, Beak Creek School, Southern Hills, and Fairview High. You can still attempt open enrollment if you prefer, but these are great schools to have as a back up. Open enrollment worked for us in 2/3 kids (although we never got into P2P). But the one of my kids who it did not work for? We are really stuck, and are unfortunately looking at expensive private schools for him.

Good Luck!

[blondmoray]

I've done a fair amount of reading regarding the red shirt trend (holding a child back a year so that will be the oldest in the class). Unfortunately, studies conclude that red shirting doesn't benefit the child in the end -- in fact, it may hurt them. The following New Yorker article was particularity interesting.

Youngest Kid, Smartest Kid? - The New Yorker

BTW, we did not red shirt my son (who is the youngest in his class). Yes, the first year was rocky, but he's now in second grade and performing at the same level -- or in some cases, out performing -- the red shirted kids (who are over a year older than him). He knows he's the youngest and it motivates him to work harder.

Just some food for thought! It's a tough decision --- one I really struggled with, but now that I'm a few years in, I'm happy that I DID struggle with the decision, because it's a big one! Good luck!

[kristin1]

Originally Posted by blondmoray

I've done a fair amount of reading regarding the red shirt trend (holding a child back a year so that will be the oldest in the class). Unfortunately, studies conclude that red shirting doesn't benefit the child in the end -- in fact, it may hurt them. The following New Yorker article was particularity interesting.

Youngest Kid, Smartest Kid? - The New Yorker

BTW, we did not red shirt my son (who is the youngest in his class). Yes, the first year was rocky, but he's now in second grade and performing at the same level -- or in some cases, out performing -- the red shirted kids (who are over a year older than him). He knows he's the youngest and it motivates him to work harder.

Just some food for thought! It's a tough decision --- one I really struggled with, but now that I'm a few years in, I'm happy that I DID struggle with the decision, because it's a big one! Good luck!

I don't think the OP is talking about "redshirting" with an August birthday. I've always considered the term to apply to kids with birthdays that fell before the summer. I really do believe that any summer and early fall birthdays are "judgement calls" best left up to the parents. I would consider a child who turns 7 during the kindergarten year to be red-shirted.

The problem with the two years of kindergarten scenario, even if you have the best of intentions, is you are trying to give your child an "edge" over his peers. And that makes me uncomfortable. He is either ready or he is not. And I don't want my taxes to fund this. From personal experience, the children in my kids' kindergarten classes who had already done a full year of kindergarten did have an short-lived academic advantage. Most were already fluent readers. But they were also the most disruptive kids in the class - and all 3 bullies in the class were repeat kindergarteners. That "edge" dissipated by the first grade, and a number of parents of those kids were furious that their kids were "moved down" an academic level group when the one year of K kids started to catch up. As I see it, two years of kindergarten kids have a short-lived, fleeting advantage, but that advantage dissipates quickly. Not worth it in my opinion, to have a child who has been successful in kindergarten repeat it. What a boring year that would be!

[hollyt00]

My daughter did two years in Pre-K before entering Kindergarten as a six year old (birthday Sept 3). I did it because of her extreme shyness and her need to mature a bit.

Problem is now she's ending sixth grade and is bored to tears and annoyed with her classmates, and she gets along better with seventh graders.

In middle and high school, each year marks incredible social and physical progress and maturity, and if you are a year above *all* the other kids, sometimes that can be a big problem. But if you are aware of the possible pitfalls (not wanting to complete homework, issues with friends) then you'll be fine.

[newcar]

I'm sorry, but it would be completely unfair to other kids if he were to enter kindergarten as a 6-year-old. Kindergarten is designed for 5-year-olds, so a 6-year-old in the classroom will naturally perform above and beyond and make the age-appropriate kids look bad. You'd be sending him the message that it's okay to cheat. I know other parents do that, but I feel that one of the most crucial lessons for parents to teach their kids is to play fair. He may also get the message that you didn't have enough confidence in him to handle age-appropriate work, which isn't bound to make him feel very good.

[It is 57 below zero]

Originally Posted by newcar

I'm sorry, but it would be completely unfair to other kids if he were to enter kindergarten as a 6-year-old. Kindergarten is designed for 5-year-olds, so a 6-year-old in the classroom will naturally perform above and beyond and make the age-appropriate kids look bad. You'd be sending him the message that it's okay to cheat. I know other parents do that, but I feel that one of the most crucial lessons for parents to teach their kids is to play fair. He may also get the message that you didn't have enough confidence in him to handle age-appropriate work, which isn't bound to make him feel very good.

Yes, very true. If it were up to me, academic redshirting would be under a cap. I don't think this practice should be done UNLESS there is some kind of learning disability, or if the child really lacks maturity or readiness. Some people hold their children back earlier and earlier, I've heard of a case where a parent held back their March baby a year. MARCH. Right in the middle of the age group.

If the child is ready, knows basic information, and is mature, send them If they are struggling and not ready, wait a year. Some people hold their children back "just for sports". Some people tend to think their child will play sports at some point in school. FACT: Not all people participate in extracurricular activities at school. I didn't.

If you don't have a good reason to hold back your child, then yes, it's kind of like cheating. People always say "older children will perform better" fine, but if the child is a year older than everyone, it won't be a surprise he's outperforming his classmates because they're all age appropriate and he/she is older. That's also not playing fair, and every parent should give their child a chance to try, rather than assume they are not good enough.

[curveplane]

Originally Posted by newcar

I'm sorry, but it would be completely unfair to other kids if he were to enter kindergarten as a 6-year-old. Kindergarten is designed for 5-year-olds, so a 6-year-old in the classroom will naturally perform above and beyond and make the age-appropriate kids look bad. You'd be sending him the message that it's okay to cheat. I know other parents do that, but I feel that one of the most crucial lessons for parents to teach their kids is to play fair. He may also get the message that you didn't have enough confidence in him to handle age-appropriate work, which isn't bound to make him feel very good.

I don't understand this logic. Teachers make their decisions based on ability, not age. If a teacher is trying to decide whether to let Dylan or Isaac into the gifted program, she's not going to go, "Well, I haven't tested either of these boys yet, but because Dylan's older than Isaac, I'm going to assume he's a better student and automatically let him into the gifted program instead of Isaac." Instead, she's going to test both boys, and make her decision based on who she thinks is SMARTER, not OLDER. She may not even know their ages, and she certainly doesn't care.

If a school has ageist policies, then that's on the faculty, not on the redshirting parents. The redshirting parents didn't create those ageist policies.