promotion by the parent

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promotion by the parent
By Michelle

In our district we let the parent make the final decision regarding kindergarten retention. The idea is that the parent knows best when it comes to the academic achievement of the child. However, most of these parents never
come to the school or even meet the teachers. Therefore, we end up with a lot of children in first grade that cannot even write their names. We have been told that in our state the decision is left up to the districts, however, we just can't get our board of ed to change their minds. That's easy for them: their children all passed the first time. My problem is that teaching first grade

is so difficult when I've got to pull aside children to teach them how to make an A when I need to be teaching the others punctuation, fractions, and other first grade content. Our kindergarten teachers work their hardest to keep these kids back, but the parents believe one year in kindergarten is good enought--they would rather see them repeat first. Is there any way we could change the board's mind regarding this? Any ideas??