Okay, I've written a ton of posts about this in absolute frustration, but never posted any, lol! As I've said before, Venily misses the 4K cutoff by 1.5 months. Cutoff is Sept 1st, she has an Oct 13th birthday. She is currently in preschool and is the youngest in her class, but does exceptionally well and is more than ready to go to 4 year old kindergarten next year, but our district has a school board rule where they will not do an early assessment for 4 year old kindergarten- meaning, they won't let you go in early. However, they WILL let you do an assessment and get into 5 year old kindergarten early if the child passes (which I absolutely plan on doing).
Wisconsin also has open enrollment, where you can go to any school (not just in your district) if they have room and you want to drive your child there yourself. I found a school that's not too far away that will do an early assessment for her and let her in their 4K class. HOWEVER... DPI says that in order for your child to go to 4K in another district your own district must offer 4K (it does) and your child must be eligible for that 4K program (she doesn't b/c they won't do an early assessment). Sooooo.... I put in a call to DPI to plead my case. She said that nope, she can't go to another 4K program if she can't go to the one in my district. UNLESS.... Wheatland were to say it was okay (and she was highly doubtful that they would ever do this- I assume they'd have to pay for it).
So, next step was to call Wheatland and ask if we could open enroll to another district since they won't let her into their program. I made Jason call b/c he's great at that sort of thing and I get so emotional that I almost cry and forget half of what I want to say, lol. He got a hold of the district superintendent who is fairly new and didn't have any idea about Wheatland's 4K policy. He asked if we would consider her in the top 5% intelligent-wise for her age group (we definitely do) and asked a bunch more questions. He was really interested in helping us out and called a whole separate board meeting to re-evaluate their rule just b/c of Venily, LOL!!! We haven't heard back from him on how that went, but I am grateful to him for at least trying. *fingers crossed*
SOOOOO.... here's our options for next year!
1.) My absolute ideal situation would be that Venily gets into 4K at Wheatland. It's an awesome program. I love the school. I know the teacher well and love her (I've subbed for her a bunch of times while pregnant with Venily)! It's 5 days a week (half days) and is FREE and the bus would pick her up and drop her off at our house. Awesome, awesome, awesome!! I don't think it's going to happen, but at least I now have some hope! :) Plus, I plan on sending her to Wheatland for Kindergarten- 8th grade as well and it would be nice for her to get used to the school that she's going to spending so much time in! (and in a perfect world, I'd get a teaching job there once Haven is in school as well!) :)
2.) My 2nd ideal situation would be that Wheatland would allow us to open-enroll. I don't know what their stance is on this, but I signed her up for the other district just in case since the paperwork was due last Friday. I had to fill out tons and tons of forms and pay $20, but it will be worth it if the Wheatland thing doesn't work out. All the people I have talked to from that school have been super nice. It would also be 5 days a week and free, but we'd have to bring her to and from school (which will be extra hard since I have Allison getting on and off the bus at my house and it's a bit of a drive to get there). She has a 4K screening scheduled at the end of March if this option all works out!
3.) Lastly, I also filled out all the paperwork for Head Start. This is also at Wheatland and the bus would also pick her up and drop her off at my house. And it's also 5 days a week and I have the option of sending her half days or full days (I would definitely only send her half days!!!). It is also free b/c we qualify financially. Jason seems to think that this should be my 2nd choice, but I just have a lot of apprehension about sending her there. It's a preschool program, but I just so wanted her to go to 4K since I absolutely plan on her going into 5K the following year.
4.) A 2nd year at her current preschool was an idea we considered, but decided against! Just sending her 2x a week puts a HUGE financial strain on us and I would want her to go more than twice a week to prepare her for kindergarten the following year. I was really sad when I had to tell her teacher. :(
That's where we're at now!! It drives me crazy not knowing!! I don't do well with indecision and waiting for the pieces to all fall in place! Another thing that fills me with anxiety is the kindergarten screening process... I really don't know what to expect! If a guy does it, I know hand-down Venily will not say a single word. :( And if it's a woman, she will probably be a bit shy at first, but I think she'll do fine (but can't be certain- it takes her a bit to warm up to some women too).
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