Letter from school district, should I address this?

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I got my unneeded permission to HS letter from the district yesterday. In PA, one doesn't have to put a grade on a child. In the letter, ds has a grade (first). It doesn't do anything right now, but I'm concerned how this could affect dd next year. There is no way I'll be considering her 6th grade. Both kids are simply their ages, doing work they're capable of doing.

 

Would you address this?

[AHASRADA]

I'm not familiar with your laws in PA, but I would leave it alone. Typically, grade assignment = age, and it was probably either assigned automatically by the computer system or by a school employee. Neither will likely be very open to "thinking outside the box" and attempting to understand why you would like to change your child's grade.

 

Most schools promote kids to the next grade whether they have mastered the previous year's material or not. In the case of a child with special needs they will be given an IEP and special services, but that doesn't change their "grade".

 

I see two possible outcomes to your request to change your dc's grade.

 

1. They look at you like you have 3 heads, and after a lengthy and futile explanation of your reasoning, you decide it isn't worth it. In the meantime, you have called extra attention to yourself that you may not want from school officials.

 

2. They actually listen to your reasoning, and decide your dc needs to go through extensive testing by the school system to assess his/her special needs and possibly call into question your ability to address those needs at home. Depending on the law, that could be a big can of worms you don't want to open.

 

I would just assign them their age-based grade and teach them according to their ability. If you are worried about putting them in school at some point and not being up to "grade level", have a psychoeducational assessment or neuropsychological assessment every 3 years (by a professional of your choice), with a full report documenting your dc's areas of difficulties and necessary accomodations. That paper trail should help you to obtain an IEP and services if they ever go to school.

 

HTH,

 

 

2.

[AnnaM]

I don't think I would bother addressing it. The less involved you are with the school district the better (as far as my 2 cents goes).

 

It is so hard for us to get a solid grade level when we HS. My girls are all over the place, reading at a 4th grade level, math 3rd, history and science are probably much lower since we havent started anything formal. I hate the concept of grade levels /end random vent.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Thanks. I'll leave it. Ds did have an IEP in school, so to HS him I had to have a special ed teacher approve his objectives.

[Haiku]

No, I wouldn't address it. Why draw unneeded attention to yourself?

 

That said, I do black out the kids' assigned grades on the form they send me every year that I fill out and send back to notify them of my intent to homeschool. The assign it based on the kids' birthdates and, although it does conform to the grades I have them in, it's not required so I don't provide it. But that's just on my notification form. I wouldn't fiddle too much with my excusal letter. Although I did inform them one year that the excusal letters they send out are not valid because they are not signed by the superintendent, as required by law. In my district they are signed by a Homeschool Coordinator. The people I spoke to (who didn't even know who I am, because I didn't provide them with my name and I was calling them on my cell phone, which has an out-of-state number) had no idea how to respond to that, so I just pleasantly informed them that they should adhere to the law if they are going to hassle other people about doing so. But nothing changed. Shocker. ;)

 

Tara

[Jen in PA]

I wouldn't worry (even though I already went through something with my district assuming a grade level this year). Here is the DOE page on the issue that is meant to clarify things for district officials.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I wouldn't worry (even though I already went through something with my district assuming a grade level this year). Here is the DOE page on the issue that is meant to clarify things for district officials.

 

This is why I worry a bit with dd. We'll be starting next year, which should be 6th, but there is no way I can get her caught up in that year to prepare for 7th which is the next level.

[creekland]

The grade assigned will come into play the years you need to have standardized testing done. With SN, I'm not sure if things are different though.