The Saturday of her birthday week we had a friend party for Luna. Our dear friends from our apartment came. It was really low key. The kids played, and the adults ate and visited. It was really fun. Then on Sunday, we had Luna's final birthday dinner at my parents' house (everyone in my family gets to choose Sunday dinner the Sunday after their birthday).
It does not feel like Luna is 4 years old. Not just because time flies and I emotionally can't handle her growing up, but because she is cognitively advanced. She was speaking in full sentences by the time she was 2. She could sing the alphabet by the time she was 3. Not only could she recognize letters, but write them as well, and she can write her name. She took a preschool admittance test back in June, and the teacher told me that she has never met a 3 year old who can confidently sing the alphabet by themselves on command to an adult. Luna knows her last name - another thing the teacher said was rare in 3 year old children. Luna knew all the shapes, colors, and numbers. Luna can count to 100 by herself. The teacher said at the end of the test, "She is definitely ready for school." But Luna was not accepted to the preschool because she scored too highly. They wanted to focus on preschool students who needed more help in order to prepare them for kindergarten. Luna doesn't need help preparing for kindergarten, she just needs to go to kindergarten.
Unfortunately, for Luna, regardless of how ready she is, she might not get to attend kindergarten for another two years because Luna will turn 5 years old 2 days after the deadline date for school. I had heard of parents getting their children into kindergarten via early admittance, so I emailed the principal of the school Benjamin was attending at the time, and asked if Luna could be admitted to their 4 year old preschool a year early since I planned on applying for early admittance to kindergarten. The principal said that Utah law did not allow early admittance, so there would be no early preschool nor early kindergarten for Luna. She said that I could apply for her to take a test the year she was scheduled to go to kindergarten to skip kindergarten and go to first grade. I didn't feel like that was the best option for Luna because she needs to be in a classroom now. So I went to the school district and asked if Luna could be given that test but for kindergarten. I told them all of Luna's cognitive abilities. They said the same thing as the principal, that Utah law won't allow it. They said that private schools are allowed to accept early admittance, and I could go that route and then transfer her back to public school for first grade - but she would still need to take a test to get into first grade a year early. I knew we couldn't afford private school, and I didn't feel like I could take Benjamin to one school and Luna to another. I then searched out this law that the principal and district administrator had mentioned. This is what I found:
Utah Code
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Public Education System -- Local Administration
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School Districts
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Local School Board Powers and Miscellaneous Duties
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Section 402
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Powers and duties generally. (Effective 1/24/2018)
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“
“ (6) Except as provided in Section 53E-3-905, a board may enroll children in school who are at least five years of age before September 2 of the year in which admission is sought.”
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I interpreted that wording to mean that the decision was actually in the hands of the district, unlike what the principal and district administrator had claimed. I decided to email my representative in the Utah State Legislature, Marsha Judkins. Not only is Marsha my representative, she also has over 20 years of experience in public education before she ran for the State House. She spoke with the State lawyers and told me that yes, my interpretation of the law was correct. She further explained that the reason why many districts choose not to is because they do not receive funding for a student until the correct year they should start school. So, most districts don't want to educate students that they aren't receiving funding for. I understand that, I don't like it, but I understand. Marsha said that she would look into the possibility of changing that policy. It's been several months and I haven't heard back from her. I was really excited at first, but now I'm not holding my breath anymore. I'm not mad at Marsha. She's a freshman representative, so she probably doesn't have a lot of power right now. Gerson said, "At least you can tell Luna that you went all the way to the government to get her in school early." And we joke that Luna will be valedictorian one day. (Coincidentally, that's exactly what Gerson did. His birthday was 3 days after the deadline, so he was the oldest in his class. And he was a good student and graduated valedictorian of his senior class in high school.)
We have since moved to a different school district. Now that I'm more knowledgeable than before - and due to a casual conversation with someone in this school district - I'm going to see what I can do here, and it might be possible now. I'm not getting my hopes up too high, but I have to at least try so that I know I did everything I could for Luna.
Luna has the cutest imagination. She loves playing dress-up; and rotates between playing doctor, school, and princesses. She wears either her princess dress-up or Doc McStuffins dress up all day long. Whenever we go out in public I make her change into regular clothing. She loves Elsa, Tiana, and Ariel. She also has 4 favorite hair styles: down, ponytail, an "Elsa braid", and an "Anna braid."
Luna is very artsy. She loves to color with crayons and markers; and her absolute favorite form of art is to paint. She tears out coloring book pages and paints the image. Then when it is dry, she cuts the image out and glues it to a blank piece of paper and hangs it on the fridge. She is so proud of the picture she colors in Primary every Sunday at church. She retains everything she learns at church, and tells me all about it on the way home.
I am so proud of her, and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father entrusted her to me. I love my little Luna girl.
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