By Sue Moore
A young five-year-old’s readiness for school is often hard to define. The administrators and parents who must make this difficult decision often wrestle with what could be a life-changing event for the child. The Schoolcraft School Board heard a discussion of a new protocol that will be used by Kris DeVoe, who teaches the young 5’s class, and Matt Webster, principal of the elementary school.
They were asking for the board’s support of an evaluation form where parents can see the data first-hand before a decision is made.
“Sometimes we have to say no, the child is not ready for kindergarten,” DeVoe said. “Now we will have a readiness factor checklist that gives everyone better insight for decision making. It will help us keep the integrity as there is such an opportunity for gray here.”
“The downside is that other school districts may use a straight age cut-off date and we would lose the potential student for years to come if there is a disagreement,” said Superintendent Rusty Stitt.
Board members agreed to use the protocol.
In other business, Supt. Dave Campbell of the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA) was present to report on the year’s activity and services. His agency provides services to all nine of the county school districts, especially with special education classes and oversight of Schoolcraft’s program.
Darby Fetzer, president of the school board, read into the record a statement pertaining to the board’s March 1 workshop meeting. The statement spoke to any actions or discussions that occurred at the meeting, saying they should not be construed as proper actions of the board. It also said the board will not take any future action based on the conversations at that meeting and will not rely on anything said at the time in making any future decisions.
The statement was from a legal opinion the board requested as a follow-up to that meeting.
Although the meeting was open to the public, it was not covered by the South County News, and a report of the meeting from the school district was not available.