Okay, not allowing the grade skip seems stupid, but depending on the popularity of red shirting in the private school it may simply be in your best interest. Since its a new school, in a new city, I think it might be hard to know exactly how old the kids in 1st are. I know the school will tell you what the cutoff date is, but it might not tell you how many parents opted to have their kids start a year later.
(DD spent all of k in 1st and 3rd grade classrooms. When we switched her school at the end of "k" I tried really hard to get her skipped to 2nd and the new school wouldn't budge. I was really mad about it for a long time. I took me a whole year to realize that even when placed with her "age" peers she is the 2nd youngest in the class because of the prevalence of red shirting. Even though the school cut off date is Sept 1, everyone born after May 3rd is a whole year older. )
Just an idea... Anyway the charter school sounds great!
