http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/...hanges-to-kindergarten-age-rule-proposedChanges to kindergarten age rule proposed: Burlington mother looks to enroll 4-year-old
by Molly Walsh
Burlington (Vermont) Free Press
June 6, 2010
A Burlington mother is asking the city school
board to allow exceptions to a rule that says
students entering kindergarten must be 5-
years-old on or before Sept. 1 of the year they
start school.
Jen Appleyard believes that the current policy
needlessly prevents children who are socially and
academically ready from entering kindergarten
and could sentence gifted children to boredom
that hobbles their entire school career. She'll
make her case at Tuesday's 7 p.m. board
meeting at Burlington High School.
The current policy is a one-size-fits-all
approach that does not take into account the
significant differences in children's intellectual
and social maturity, she said. Appleyard is not
proposing that Burlington throw out its age cut-
off; only that the school district adopt a set of
criteria that can be used to allow exceptions.
Appleyard's bid to change the policy began after
she attempted to enroll her 4-year-old daughter
Maggie, who will turn 5 on Sept. 23, at
Champlain Elementary School for kindergarten
this fall. School officials told Appleyard that
Maggie would have to wait a year and register
for the fall of 2011 because she does not meet
the district age cut-off.
Many children arrive at kindergarten not
knowing how to read. Maggie started reading
when she was 3 and is now devouring chapter
books such as E.B. White's "Stuart Little," a book
typically recommended for children in grades
three to five.
<rest of article at link>
The article does a good job of discussing the issues. I hope Jen Appleyard is successful in changing the policy. Saying that a child born on September 2 MUST wait a year, regardless of that child's intellectual and academic level, is idiotic.
