D.C. is cracking down on families who want to enroll their kids late into kindergarten — a practice known as redshirting.
Why it matters: D.C. Public Schools used to let principals allow families to delay enrollment, especially if a child has developmental concerns.
- But suddenly D.C. isn't making exceptions, even for kids with doctors' notes.
The big picture: The pivot has enraged a group of upper Northwest parents, who are pushing the D.C. Council to step in.
Zoom in: In the past, D.C. occasionally let some kids with birthdays close to the kindergarten cutoff wait a year to enroll — or redshirt. It meant that newly minted 6-year-olds could start school a whole year older than newly minted 5-year-olds.
- This year, DCPS rejected requests from more than a dozen families trying to delay enrollment into highly rated elementary schools like Lafayette.
- That means for kids who turn 5 by Sept. 30, it's kindergarten — not an extra year of PreK4. For kids who redshirted last year, DCPS is saying to skip kindergarten and go straight to first grade.
"This has been so stressful," one parent who wishes to remain anonymous to protect their child's identity tells Axios.
- Last year, given their child's learning and socialization difficulties, the family decided to repeat PK4, after receiving written assurances from an elementary principal that he could start the 2025-26 school year in kindergarten, per emails the family shared with Axios.
- But that promise was yanked in May. The family's now being told their child will need to jump to first grade in the fall, despite letters from a pediatrician and child psychologist. "There has been zero sympathy," the parent says. "They are making no exceptions."
- Families in similar situations have been contacted by the DC Child and Family Services Agency for not putting their kids in the right grade, says Eric Goulet, a member of the State Board of Education. He calls it "harsh retaliation tactics."..
