TN student turned away from senior year due to age

[RosyDaisy]

From http://www.waff.com/story/23117413/lawrence-co-student-turned-away-from-senior-year-due-to-age:

A Lawrence County father says he got a surprising response when he tried to enroll his 18-year-old daughter for her senior year of high school.

Michael Word said the guidance counselor at Lawrence County High told her that she was too old to enroll in school.

"It's just not fair," Michael Word said.

Amber Word moved from Giles County to Lawrence County and was looking forward to all the things seniors get to do.

"I looked forward to my senior trip, my senior pictures. I already have my class ring," Amber Word said.

Amber Word turned 18 in May. She'd been held back in fifth grade, so she was a little older than some students, but her grades were good and her family said she was on track to graduate on time.

The guidance counselor told the teen she should attend the county's adult education program instead of attending the high school.

:pull-hair: After what this young lady has been through, she deserves to enjoy her senior year of high school (class pictures, activities, senior trip, dances, prom, and graduation). I personally think that school system is run by morons!

[alysee]

So sad. I can only speak for Ontario, Canada but people can go to high school up to the age of 21 (but most won't after 19 unless they developmental delays) . She should be able to have all the typical experiences if she wants to have them.

[Ariel]

That really doesn't make sense at all. I'm sure there are students in that school who turn 18 in August or September who were allowed to enroll.

As far as I know, students can remain in school until they're 21-though that may be only for students with disabilities.

[LeopardLady]

I'm positive there were students in my high school class who were 18 before they started their senior year of high school. This makes absolutely no sense. I wonder if there's something else going on here.

[tanksmom]

I would love to know more of the history behind this decision. In my area I know that you can go to high school up until at least 20, possibly longer but I've never seen it. Personally I graduated with 2 kids that were 19 my senior year and a child I know will be 19 when he graduates simply because he wasn't emotionally ready to start school at 5 so he got help and didn't start until he was 7. Those extra 2 years gave him time to mature to the point where he could handle regular schooling and flourish. I'd be pissed as hell if some paper pusher said he was too old.

[crazyforkate]

That's bullshit. There are SO MANY reasons why someone might miss a year or come in late. Why punish them for it?

[RosyDaisy]

There was girl from my area that graduated from high school at 20. She was plagued with numerous health problems since she was a baby. She almost got the same treatment as the girl in the link I posted. Her parents went straight to the local school board and raised a a big stink about it, and the whole community got involved until the school board relented and let her finish high school and graduate. Since this story has made local news headlines, I'm hoping the same thing happens here.

[tenth muse]

I knew people ranging from 16-20 in my final year of high school. That poor girl.

[Savoring Samsara]

I'm positive there were students in my high school class who were 18 before they started their senior year of high school. This makes absolutely no sense. I wonder if there's something else going on here.

A high school boyfriend of mine turned 20 in the first week of his senior year. He had a September birthday and was held back a year in elementary school. His maturity was entirely in line with the rest of our class. This school district is being absolutely ridiculous.

[becky4201]

There has got to be more to this story. There are lots of 18 year olds in high school.

[RainbowSky]

I'm sorry, but what?

There was a girl who turned TWENTY TWO (and proudly walked around school with her balloons) a couple of months before graduation. You can go to school up until 21, but since she decided to try and she was graduating soon, she was allowed to stay and get her diploma.

Someone I used to know really well was 18 in 10th grade, quit, then came back when he was 19.....still in 10th grade. They reenrolled him even though he was legally an adult and obviously wasn't going to graduate any time soon. It wasn't like he needed another credit or two! The guidance counselor was happy to reenroll him, hoping that he had him time to do whatever, maybe he meant to be serious and finish finally. (He didn't. He quit again. He was really sometimes scary smart, just didn't give a shit. At all.)

I call bs or something is just wrong. You're not too old to legally be in school, so somewhere is complete bullshit. Either someone didn't like the chick and was like nope or she is full of shit. One of those for sure!

[wild little fox]

I was 18 in the fall of 1986. At graduation time in June I was 19. I was held back twice.

I'm wondering if there is some stupid law that cuts off funding for those who are 18 in September.

[baignoire]

I was 18 in the fall of 1986. At graduation time in June I was 19. I was held back twice.

I'm wondering if there is some stupid law that cuts off funding for those who are 18 in September.

It must vary by state? I've lived in CA and NY and students may stay enrolled at a high school until they are 21 in both.

It's not unusual for a high school senior to turn 18 before the beginning of the year, but based on anecdotal evidence, older students (like 19+) tend to have intellectual disabilities or come from poorer families (and have been retained). Putting on my tinfoil hat, it seems like this rule promotes some kind of under-the-radar segregation, but maybe that's just me.

[louisa05]

I taught more than one 19 year old senior. In two cases, they had been the victims of sporadic homeschooling and had to make up grades when their parents did bother to put them in school. One didn't learn to read until he was finally put in school at 9 and was placed in second grade at that age because of it. A couple of others had come back after temporarily dropping out. One had essentially missed an entire year due to having leukemia as a young child.

In my state, they can remain in high school at age 19. There are some restrictions about participating in sports--a birth date cut off. I think that is in part to keep parents from holding kids out to make them bigger and stronger for high school sports later. A lot of people here do that with boys for one year but the age restriction keeps them from trying it any longer.

[darkplumaged]

I call bs or something is just wrong. You're not too old to legally be in school, so somewhere is complete bullshit. Either someone didn't like the chick and was like nope or she is full of shit. One of those for sure!

Yeah, I'm not sure what to make of this story. Tons of seniors turn 18 before starting the school year, including my sister and SIL. It's very common for kids to start kindergarten at 6 instead of 5.

Also, there were two... well, not exactly "kids"... who went to HS with my sister who were in their early 20s as seniors. Both had developmental disabilities, but still--they were there.

[Cheetah]

On the other end here (CA) they've moved the kindergarten cutoff date from Dec 2 to Sept 1 or 2 (or maybe it's still October this year and will end up at September next year, after moving one month a year for several years). Along with this is a bit of a push to stop parents from 'red-shirting' (deliberately holding kids with birthdays near the cutoff back). But it's gone overboard in a few cases... a friend of a friend held her son back and then went to enroll him for a kindergarten spot this fall (I think he's turning 6 sometime this month). The school prinicpal insisted that he be enrolled as a 1st grader. There was no warning that this was coming down the previous year when she'd made the decision to hold him back. She raised a stink and went to the school board. I think the end decision was that he's going in as a kindergartener, but at a different school in the same district (I think that part was that she felt the relationship with the first principal was already ruined and she needed to start somewhere fresh).

(and then I'm the mom who didn't redshirt my November kid (he entered when the cutoff was still December) so he's about the youngest in his grade now... and doing just fine.)

[GeoBQn]

I was 19 when I graduated high school because my parents entered me in kindergarten a year late due to a language acquisition disorder.

One of my acting professors in college used to teach at a performing arts high school. He had a student who was much older after dropping out of high school, then re-enrolling sometime later. One time, they went on a field trip to a professional baseball game. When my professor saw this student with a beer in his hand, he was about to yell at the student before he remembered that the student was actually of legal age to buy it.

[Gamera]

I turned 18 at the beginning of my Senior year and faced no issues from the school. My parents "redshirted" me because I was born six weeks premature and while my actual birthday met the cut-off date, my projected birthday didn't. I think they made the right decision.

[louisa05]

I turned 18 at the beginning of my Senior year and faced no issues from the school. My parents "redshirted" me because I was born six weeks premature and while my actual birthday met the cut-off date, my projected birthday didn't. I think they made the right decision.

I wouldn't use the term "redshirt" for that just because around here, parents using that word for holding a child out of kindergarten are doing it (mostly with boys) in the hope that one day their son will be bigger, stronger and faster and able to get on a varsity team in high school sooner. The whole thing is ridiculous and states that are taking action to force people to put kids in school to learn rather than hold them out in the name of future sports glory are doing the right thing.

[ADoyle90815]

I'm also one of those with a late November birthday, and was close to the cutoff date for kindergarten, but my parents had me wait a full year. I was still 18 at my high school graduation, and the only people I knew of who were 19-21 by the time they graduated from high school had some type of developmental or physical disability, or had something like cancer that caused them to miss a lot of school.

[Letgo]

They are allowed to appeal the decision and they are doing that. It is decided on a case by case basis.

Two of my kids were 18 before their senior years. It is pretty common here. Kids are held back a year or if young for their grade the parents wait an extra year. The Tennessee district seems to consider anyone older than 17 to be too old. That would mean a lot of appealing where I live. There are schools in my area that almost automatically make summer birthday kids wait that extra year.

[FreeJosie]

My youngest sister was almost 19 1/2 when she graduated high school. She has a January birthday, and my parents started her a year late in school because she had developmental delays (what would now be called an autism spectrum disorder).

[Coconut Flan]

It's a potential wave of the future. Here in our Cali district there is a whole rules section devoted to it. It has to do with the redshirt parents who hold particularly boys back so they'll be a year older in high school sports plus having legal adults in high school with minors. I'm not firm on all the rules that were implemented a few years back but the child should not be 18 before school begins in the fall and if not there is a chart of progress toward graduation that must be met. If turning 18 during certain portions of the school year then the student can't have major disciplinary problems and keep up with being able to graduate by June. Otherwise, it's off to the adult school or an alternate ed program. I was shocked when the son of a friend was in jeopardy of being sent to adult ed. She'd bragged for years about holding him back from kindergarten so he'd be one of the largest kids in his class and it ended up causing him quite a bit of difficulty. He ended up in a special program to make up credits.

[No Cure for Stupid]

I've never heard of anything like that. I dropped out for a couple of years in high school and didn't graduate until two months after my twentieth birthday. I'd always been told that twenty was the cutoff for attending school.

[chaotic life]

Our newest son showed up at 15 with no education in his life, orphanage didn't teach and the first adoptive family merely taught the same first grade material to him every year. School district put him in 8th grade to give him a year to learn how to do school before high school and have reassured us repeatedly that he gets until 21 before he has to look at adult education options if he isn't ready for his HS diploma by then.

I have two others I held back one year deliberately to give them extra time to make up for language issues and orphanage deficiencies. In our state, they can play sports until 19, so only one won't qualify for sports his senior year. It won't even impact the other two.