Brandi Heron says she’s worried sick about her son Bentley having to start kindergarten this fall.
Bentley, 4, is developmentally delayed and was a December-baby; he was born December 7. Due to his late birthday and his learning challenges, Heron decided she wanted him to wait and start at Squamish Elementary School next fall rather than this September.
“We were going to hold him back. He is not ready for kindergarten,” she said. “We want another year of preschool.”
She said school district representatives told her that children have to enrol with their age group, regardless of whether the child has special needs.
A meeting about the issue was held this spring and included Heron, school and school board representatives and Bentley’s therapists.
At the meeting, she was reassured that her son would do well by starting kindergarten this year, she said.
Heron said she was told if she held him back, he would have to go directly into Grade 1 when he enrolled next year, but he would start in a kindergarten-Grade 1 split.
“That’s not OK,” she told The Squamish Chief.
She’s concerned if he has to start in Grade 1, even in a split class, he will be expected to be more advanced than he is.
Lisa McCullough, superintendent of schools for the district, said several parents have asked about kindergarten enrolment age and she wonders why, given it is not a new rule.
She said there seems to be a misunderstanding.
“If there is any myth out there that our kindergarten teachers are not able to personalize a plan for a child and be ready for the child in the classroom, that is just absolutely false,” she said. “Our kindergarten teachers are outstanding. They are ready to build personal plans for every child… We think children at that age group are developmentally ready… we think it is our responsibility to be ready for them.”
McCullough also said parents are allowed to hold their child back from kindergarten, which is not mandatory.
Heron said it seems ridiculous to her that if her son was born three weeks later, this all wouldn’t even be an issue.
“It makes no sense to me. I think it should be based on the child.”
Bentley’s behaviour interventionist agrees.
Kim Benson, who has worked with Bentley for a year, said she attended the meeting with Heron and school board representatives this spring. She said no one from the school or the board has conferred with Bentley’s specialists.
Benson’s opinion is that he is in no way ready to start kindergarten in a few weeks.
She said when she started working with him, he had almost no language skills.
“He is at least a year behind developmentally in all areas of his life because he has not been on par with his language,” she said.
“In the classroom, yes, they make up personal plans, but the reality is you have one teacher, maybe an aide in there.”
Benson said she worries what will happen if Bentley is put into kindergarten too soon.
He still has issues with self-regulation and being able to cope, she said.
“This will be extremely isolating for him. If the momentum starts with him not being able to express himself and he is acting out in order to control the world around him he is going to be seen as a behavioural problem, kids will treat him that way, he will begin to feel isolated and unsuccessful.”
Kindergarten provides essential lessons for students that help prepare them for the coming years, but they need to start the process when they are ready, she said.
“We are failing all students and families if we do not look at every child as an individual,” she said.
Marilyn Caldwell, director of instruction for the district, said schooling has evolved and primary classrooms in Squamish are very child-centred.
“We’ve really been working to learn from the early learning community about early childhood development,” she said, “and have our kindergarten teachers do professional learning along side preschool educators, early childhood educators, to better understand the developmental growth of children at this age and create learning environments in our primary classrooms that are heavily play-based so that we would be ready for every child.”
Heron said she has yet to make her final decision on when to start Bentley.
