Apr 22, 2002 By Joyce Koballa 3 min read

PERRYOPOLIS – Children in the Frazier School District who will turn five years old before Dec. 31 may be afforded the opportunity to enter kindergarten early if the school board agrees to revise the district’s current admission policy. Members of the school board’s education committee discussed the proposed change this month while reviewing a new policy drafted by Dr. Frederick Smeigh, superintendent.

Under the revision, parents of children whose birthdays fall between Sept. 1, and Dec. 31 of the school year may seek early entrance to kindergarten if their child can demonstrate readiness skills to the satisfaction of the superintendent.

The proposed policy also states that parents can petition the school to deviate from the chronological age requirement by writing to Ken Meadows, elementary school principal, who along with Linda Nelson, the K-12 curriculum supervisor, will determine the child’s readiness skills and issue a written report to the superintendent.

The policy further states that readiness for kindergarten depends on a child’s development of social, perceptual, motor, language skills and age appropriate behavior required by the district’s administration.

John H. Lowery III, school board president, said the board’s interest to review the policy was sparked by one couple in particular who wrote a letter seeking early kindergarten admission for their child since another sibling was able to do so when they resided in another school district. The current policy was instituted about three years ago by former school board members and states that a child must turn five years old before Sept. 1 in order enter kindergarten.

“We didn’t change the age for automatic entry, but did say we would consider kids that weren’t five until December,” said Smeigh.

Smeigh noted the proposed revision is not attributed to the steady decline in kindergarten enrollment over the last several years, although it has curtailed the district’s amount of state reimbursement.

“This is strictly a way to make sure the kids who are physically, emotionally and mentally ready to attend kindergarten get an opportunity to do so and don’t have to sit out another year,” said Smeigh.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, enrollment projections indicate the number of kindergarten students has significantly dropped at Frazier from 109 in 1996-1997 and 121 in 1997-1998 to an average of between 76 and 99 students enrolled from 1999 to this year.

For the 2002-2003 school year, the state projects Frazier to have 78 kindergarten students while that figure is expected to increase to 93 for the 2003-2004 school year before decreasing again.

Lowery said that Frazier’s kindergarten admission policy is more stringent than most area school districts regarding the age children are permitted to enter kindergarten and that changing the age will make it coincide with that of other districts.