Board Discusses School Entrance Cutoff Dates

The Millburn Board of Education passed an updated version of its entrance age policy, keeping its Oct. 1 cutoff for incoming kindergartners and first graders.

This has been the cutoff date for years, but there was some discussion as to whether it should be moved back, allowing for younger students to enter kindergarten.

Currently pupils must be five years old by Oct. 1 to enter kindergarten and six years old to enter first grade.

Board Member Jean Pasternak had raised the issue at the board’s last meeting after reading new research published in the New York Times that suggests that some students do better entering school at younger ages and that calls into question the idea of redshirting (delaying kindergarten so that children are older and more mature when they start).

Pasternak raised the issue, she said, because there has been a lot of research on brain development since the policy was written several years ago and it is a valid question to look at.

This prompted much discussion as to the validity of the research and the idea that the cutoff date is arbitrary – whether that date is Oct. 1, Nov. 1 or Jan. 1.

“There’s always going to be someone who just misses the date,” Board Member Sam Levy said at the last meeting when the issue first came up.  “There are always going to be younger and older students in the class. Changing the date just shifts who those students are.”

Ultimately, the board voted to adopt the new version of the policy because it does not change anything substantial – it only updates wording. The big issues – entrance date and age – remain the same.

“If someone feels strongly about it, they can do the research and bring it back to the board for discussion,” said board member Jeffrey Waters, who added that the policy could be changed later based on thorough research if the board felt it was warranted.

In other news, the board OK’d for employees, courtesy of the district.