At my daughters school they told us before she entered first grade that they do not teach reading, they teach the first graders reading skills that they may have missed out on by teaching themselves to read.
I am not sure what this would mean--but I am certain that most of the students in DS's class are still reading at a pretty early level. It is a Title 1 school with many struggling students who came to K with few skills (for instance, many did not know the alphabet). Of course, there are exceptions. I feel surprised that you would be told that children are not taught to read in grade 1. The answer you were given sounds more like something that would be told to pacify a parent whose child already knows how to read well and taught him/herself.
