Have you ever been concerned about holding your child back in school? Or maybe you just want to know your rights when it involves keeping your child back a grade. Following is my friends story and some helpful links with advice and helpful learning tips for your child. You'll even find links below where you can add your own story.

April was home schooled Kindergarten - 2nd grade. She excelled in every subject except for reading. So her mother decided to put her into the public school system, hoping this would help April with her reading and also to give her some social enteraction. Her mother chose Franklin Elementary, a school which is known for being accelerated in their learning. Each Grade in this school is doing the next years work. Example 2nd graders do 3rd grade work, 3rd graders are doing 4th grade work etc.

When entering the school, April would have been in 3rd grade for her age level but the principal chose to put her in 2nd grade, which in a regular public school would basically be the same as 3rd grade. April continued to do well in all her subjects but by the end of the school year she was still behind in her reading, so Franklin wanted to hold her back into the 2nd grade again for the 2009-2010 school year. For her age level she would have been in the 4th grade, but they wanted to keep her two years behind.

So not wanting her child held back, Darla withdrew April from Franklin and enrolled her into Webster Elementary a regular learning public school. Darla felt that April would be able to catch up to her grade level if she remained in the next grade, she would still be behind one grade level but closer to her age group.

April started the third grade last week at Webster and was doing well and was enjoying school. When Darla dropped her off Monday morning, she was called into the office and was told by the Principal that they had just received Aprils transcripts form Franklin and so they decided April should be held back because Franklin was going to hold her back. They also informed her that they already had released April from her 3rd grade class and enrolled her into a 2nd grade class that morning.

They had placed April into the 2nd grade before consulting with Darla. This alone is against the districts school policies. I looked up Aprils school district and found their: School District - Governing Board Policies and Administrative Regulations - As of July 30, 2009

In this guideline under: Index Section J: Students, Topic: Admissions; Cross Reference: Grade Placement it states and I quote:

"The principal shall be guided by the recommendation of teachers, and shall consult with the parents/legal guardians of the student before the transfer or placement of a child is made."

So in this matter the Principal was obviously wrong.

Darla then asked the Principal to please test April because she excels in everything else, she knew it would only be a short matter of time when April caught up in her reading level. She was told 'We don't do that here.'

Darla's cousin, who has been teaching for 20 years, informed her that it was illegal to hold a child back without the parents consent. She went as far as to say that in her 5th grade class she has a few students that are at 2nd grade reading level and as long as they are progressing through out the year they are able to move on.

Darla told the Principal at Webster what her cousin had informed her, and she said he looked stunned. Darla felt that his response was as if he was surprised she would know this.

April is very tall for her age, almost 10 years old and and was being put with kids two years younger than her. Emotionally and socially this could be highly devastating to a child. As some of the links below express.

Feeling very strongly about her child's emotional and social well being, Darla took April out of school Monday and came to me for help. We searched the web for anything that would tell us what rights the Parent has in weather their child is held back a year in school. I found several articles which mention the negative aspects of holding your child back and they made some great points. I've added links below.

We had a hard time finding anywhere that actually stated the Parents rights in holding their child back. So I called my child's school which is in the same school district and asked them where I could find Laws regarding a Parents rights in holding their child back. I was told to check out the school districts website or Websters schools website and she also gave me the phone number for the School District.

The neither website was much help in this matter, so Darla called the district and was informed she needed to speak with the school districts Superintendent. They sent her to his voicemail where she left a message, explaining the situation. She still wasn't at ease so we found his email on the schools website and we emailed him a detailed letter with the story above and her concerns.

By 3pm Monday, she received a message from the Principal explaining he was sorry about the misunderstanding and they had already changed things around and enrolled April back into the 3rd grade.

In our opinion it was obvious that either her phone call or the Email we sent to the Superintendent had a great deal to do with the Principals phone call.

Retention can be a very traumatic experience that follows children into adulthood. The links below give some Questions & Answers for the particular grade mentioned and helpful tips for your child's learning.

I loved the quote at the end of this link. It is as follows: According to the National Association of School Psychologists, retention has not been shown to be successful when it is linked with 'developmental immaturity"

Retention can be beneficial in certain situations. Below are links from an Elementary Counselor.

Do you ever wonder what other parents think? Have others been where you are? See if you relate to these parents stories. Below are links on what some parents have to say about weather they held their child back and how they feel about it now. This is also a great place to add your story:

My parents held me back in the third grade. I was one of the lucky children who was not affected negatively by this decision. I think part of that is because how my teacher dealt with the situation. I already knew everything they were teaching. My teacher actually had me tutoring kids in class. They also put me in a program where I was able to go to other classes and help out the students. This actually gave me confidence. My teacher took an unnecessary situation and made it a positive experience. I remember asking my mother years later why they held me back and she told me it was because they felt they should have held my brother back but hadn't and they didn't want to make the same mistake with me.

So here I give you Aprils story and also a little of my own. The main thing I believe is; do some research just like some of the experts in these links have said. Look into what your child should have learned during the year. Better yet stay involved through out the school year, so you will already know if your child is having problems keeping up with what they are learning or possibly even excelling. Research and being involved is the key. Don't be afraid to speak up for your rights. Tell the right people how you feel and what your concerns are. Show them you mean business where your child's Emotional, Social and Academic stability is concerned.