School Directors Table Policy Regarding Kindergarten Admission

The Ellwood City Area School District Board tabled a vote regarding Policy 201 during its Tuesday, January 21st meeting.

At the December 5th meeting the board voted to have administration review the policy, which pertains to kindergarten admission at Ellwood City Area Schools after a parent spoke out at the board’s November 14th meeting. New parent to the district Megan Jones said she was disappointed to learn that her child who has already invested two years into preschool would not make the August 15 cutoff for kindergarten registration. She said her daughter will turn 5 on August 23, just days after the cutoff. Jones said at the November meeting that she called other school districts in the county asking about their kindergarten admission procedures and was told that the cut off date is September 1st and was told that if a parent feels a child is ready a parent can have them evaluated for admission consideration. She said she was not given that option when she called the Ellwood City Area School District.

The current policy, passed in July 2019, by the board states: “A child is eligible for admission to kindergarten if s/he has attained the age of five (5) years on or before August 15 of that year.” After review, the administration, during the board’s January 13 committee meeting, recommended that the policy should remain as is, but not everyone agrees.

The board was set to vote on the policy at the Tuesday meeting, but doubts remained for some board members. Several board members said they believe there are times when exceptions to the policy should be considered based on a child’s social and emotional development.

“There is always going to be an exception,” said board director Kathleen McCommons.

Director Jean Biehls suggested changing the policy to state that students entering kindergarten must be 5 years old on the first day of school. The suggestion was met with a lack of support by other board members.

Board President Renee Pitrelli and directors Barbara Wilson, Biehls, and McCommons suggested an option for evaluation of students based on a certain set of criteria. McCommons said she believes the administration and school psychologists are fully capable of developing the criteria as well as evaluating the students.

Director Jennifer Tomon said no matter what the criteria, the evaluations are going to be viewed as subjective.

“I want to know who is going to write the criteria and exactly what the criteria will be,” she said.

Director Leroy Cortez said that he foresees parents not being satisfied with evaluations that don’t result in their child being granted early admission. He supports keeping the policy as is and was the lone vote of “No” to table the vote.

The board will look to the administration for guidance on the policy before continuing with a formal vote.

A copy of the policy can be found by clicking here.