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Older Melrose students given green light for kindergarten

MELROSE, Mass. — In Massachusetts, students must attend school the September they turn six, but it doesn’t mean they have to attend kindergarten.

Some parents in Melrose learned about that quirk in the law Tuesday, when the district sent an e-mail to a dozen families informing them their children’s kindergarten registrations had been canceled because they were old enough for first grade.

The e-mail quoted school committee policy, which indicates kindergarten eligibility for those who reach age five on or before September 1 of the relevant school year. Those who reach age 6 during that time period are eligible for first grade.

At Tuesday night’s school committee meeting, Peter Navarra, one of the parents affected by the change, spoke out.

“This policy is only mentioning the minimums, not the maximums,” Navarra said. “Longstanding has it been known, for years and years, that parents were given the option that if their child was a summer child and not ready for kindergarten, that parents could choose a second year of preschool or kindergarten. This is often referred to as redshirting.”

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Navarra said he and his wife decided their child was not yet mature enough for kindergarten last summer and opted for a second year of preschool. Navarra told Boston 25 News that parental input as to a child’s readiness for school is important at this stage, and he indicated his son is definitely not ready for first grade.

“He’s barely even reading and is behind in reading for his age,” Navarra told the committee. “This has been a disastrous year for our child. So to tell us that he’ll be forced to first grade with not even an ounce of understanding and outright deleting and removing our kindergarten application is absurd.”

But by late Wednesday afternoon, Navarra and at least one other parent got similar phone calls from a Melrose Public School official.

“They apologized for the letter and informed me that it was poorly worded and sent out in error,” Navarra said. “And that nothing has changed, nothing was canceled and that they would love to have us back in kindergarten.”

Melrose School Superintendent Julie Kukenberger told Boston 25 News the ‘kindergarten cancellation’ letters went out to just 12 families out of 282 pre-registrations.

“Many of these families have since reached out and expressed their concerns advocating for their child to be enrolled in kindergarten,” Kukenberger responded via e-mail. “We are now in the process of reaching out to each family to understand their request better so that together we can ensure their child receives the most appropriate placement for the upcoming school year.”

Kukenberger said she is confident the district will be able to work things out with parents.

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“We are committed to ensuring that every child has a positive and successful start to their formal education process,” she said.

Boston 25 News is working to clarify whether the district is extending the offer of keeping kindergarten registration intact for all 12 affected families.