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My toddler is can read the Wall Street Journal. How can I get her into kindergarten early?

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Real Estate Agent with Century 21 (SUNNYVALE, CA) - (408) 893-2410

Q: My 3 year old daughter can read just about any word I throw at her.  Is there any testing program that she can pass so Cupertino will allow her to get into Cupertino Kindergarten early?
A (Karen from Student Assignment): Unfortunately no.  There is no testing program to get gifted toddlers into kindergarten early.  There's a strict age requirement.  We at the Cupertino Student Assignment Department don't set that age requirement.  The State sets that requirement.  State law states your child must reach age 5 by December 2nd of that school year to get into public kindergarten.


Q: Can I send my daughter to Private kindergarten and then get back into public 1st grade?

A: No.  You'd have to send your child to Private school for both kindergarten and 1st, then you can send her back into the public school system at the 2nd grade without being old enough.  The state law sets age requirements for Kindergarten and 1st grade but not 2nd grade and beyond.  If you send your daughter to private school for kindergarten and 1st grade, you'll then need a certificate from her private school to enter public 2nd grade.


Q: How will her lottery status to get into Eisenhower Elementary be affected if she goes to private school for Kindergarten and 1st?  Will she lose the priority of her older brother attending Eisenhower?
A: The Eisenhower Lottery was just to get into Kindergarten this year.  (You would have had to complete registration by March 1st to get into the lottery for this fall.)  She would not have a problem when it comes time to attend 2nd grade.

Posted by

Robert Lei

Real Estate Professional

Century 21 M&M and Associates

Sunnyvale, CA 94087

(408) 893-2410

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Karen Fiddler, Broker/Owner
Karen Parsons-Fiddler, Broker 949-510-2395 - Mission Viejo, CA
Orange County & Lake Arrowhead, CA (949)510-2395

Interesting topic...but as a mom of 5, I would advise you to find an interesting pre-school for her and let her do school at the right age. My oldest skipped a grade in 3rd grade in a private school he was in...when we did put him back into public school...I had him repeat 4th grade, it was a great decision...it's a maturity thing and friendships are often based on age.

Apr 07, 2011 06:19 AM
Robert Lei
Century 21 (SUNNYVALE, CA) - (408) 893-2410 - Sunnyvale, CA
Sunnyvale Cupertino Santa Clara, Palo Alto Mountain View Saratoga Campbell

Hi Karen,

Good points.  I did notice some things that agree with what you said.  My son is one of the youngest in his grade and mostly FOLLOWS the other kids in his class.  My daughter is one of the OLDEST in her preschool class and mostly LEADS the other kids.  I think my daughter could handle going to kindergarten early because she seems older in all respects - she reads difficult books, she's tall for her age, she's already one of the oldest kids in her preschool class, she's more mature than my son.  However, I'm still leaning toward just letting her go through public school since we already spent the money to buy our house in a good school district :-)

Apr 10, 2011 05:41 AM
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I recently attended a meeting to discuss school emergency preparedness. This topic has been on the top of parents' minds since the tragic massacre of school kids at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. Here's some of what I learned in this meeting. In an emergency situation, the authorities need to account for every child. Parents would need to go throught he appropriate channels to retrieve their child from the emergency. Parents cannot just come and take their child without letting the proper people know because then the authorities will wonder what happened to your child and will divert resources to go look for your child. One of the middle schools in the Cupertino Union School District is designated as the central location for students in case of an emergency. That middle school is stocked with ample food, water, electrtical generators, etc. The authorities expect that in an emergency, most parents would take a break from their work to retrieve their child within 2-4 hours. However, if some parents continue to work during the emergency, they will be able to pick up their child from this designated middle school gathering point. There are 25 schools that would feed kids to that designated middle school in the event of an emergency. One of the officials at the meeting was instrumental at getting a $250,000 grant from Congressman Honda after a visit to Washington DC. Using that money, he subcontracted with a security company that devised a comprehensive $82,000 plan for school safety. That official is a personal friend of Carla Holdsclaw, the person who trademarked the terms "code red" and "code blue". Other schools, who don't have permission from Ms. Holdsclaw will have to use the terms "Full lockdown" and "Shutdown in place" instead. The biggest topic of this meeting was the discussion about whether a fence around the campus would be effective in preventing a Sandy Hook disaster. The cost of installing a fence for the 15 schools that don't have a fence would be in the millions of dollars. Some of the people questioned whether a fence would be effective in holding out a determined potential assailant. Another issue was in the event of a fire on campus, would a fence hold kids trapped inside with the flames, as was the case with the Brazilian tragedy where over 200 people perished. One of the officers brought up the idea of having more parent volunteers patrolling campus. He also urged parents to talk their kids about safety. The overall topic of safety in our schools will continue to be a hot topic for a while.

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