Entrance Age

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 ENTRANCE AGE AND CONDITIONS

5112 – Entrance Requirements

The Board of Education shall establish entrance age requirements for students which are consistent with statute and sound educational practice and which ensure the equitable treatment of all eligible children.

PRESCHOOL: 

A child is eligible for entrance into preschool if she/he attains the age of four (4) years old (or three (3) is she/he is an eligible student with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP)) before July 1 of the year in which she/he applies for entrance and has not yet attained the age at which she/he will be admitted to kindergarten.

KINDERGARTEN:

The Clay County Board of Education shall provide a kindergarten program for all children who have attained the age of five prior to July 1 of the school year in which the pupil enters such kindergarten program. A child under the age of six (6) who is enrolled in kindergarten will be considered of compulsory school age.

FIRST GRADE:

Prior to entering first grade a child must have successfully completed a public or privately supported state approved kindergarten program or Montessori kindergarten program or to have successfully completed an entrance test of basic readiness skills approved by the Clay County Board of Education. Such entrance test may be administered in lieu of kindergarten attendance only under extraordinary circumstances.

An extraordinary circumstance will be considered to exist when a child is old enough for first grade, but for reasons of health (certified by a medical doctor) or transportation (bus ride in excess of 45 minutes or residential distance from bus stop of more than one mile), did not attend kindergarten.

 ADVANCED ENTRANCE:

Advanced entrance to kindergarten is discouraged. Students whose fifth birthday falls on or after July 1st and before August 1st of the ensuing school year will be considered for early entrance only if the parent or guardian of that child:

 1.  Notifies Clay County Schools in writing no later than June 1 prior the beginning of the school term in which he/she desires to attend.

 2. Provides compelling evidence, no later than 2 weeks prior to the first day of school, of intellectual and social maturity.

 3.  The child has a certified birth certificate.

 4.  The child has completed all immunizations.

 5.  In the event a child moves to Clay County after the June 1st notification deadline, the written notice deadline would be     extended to August 1st.  Compelling evidence must include a privately obtained intellectual assessment by a certified clinical or school psychologist showing that the child functions two or more standard deviations above the norm in the verbal and   nonverbal areas of an accepted test of intellectual ability.  Clay County Schools reserves the right to administer additional t   testing to collect necessary data to make an informed decision. 

 Children who meet the criteria for early entrance will be permitted to enroll in the Clay County kindergarten program if the school serving their area of residence is not above the state mandated kindergarten limit.  Alternate kindergarten sites may be considered with parents providing transportation.

 Parents/guardians will be notified, prior to the first day of school, by mail/phone of the decision, based on the data collected.  Such decisions shall be final and shall not be subject to appeal. 

 Nothing herein shall prevent a student from another state or county in West Virginia from enrolling in a public school in Clay County in such a grade as the student was enrolled at the school from which he/she transferred.

Adopted: November 18, 1991

Revision Date:  March 11, 2019

Clay County Board of Education