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The Harlan County School Board met for their regular meeting for July recently, tackling topics including early entrance to kindergarten.
Superintendent Brent Roark introduced the topic to the board following a motion to add the matter to the agenda.
“Mrs. (Jeanne) Lee is going to take care of this,” Roark said. “I’ve been watching her for the last week and a half, she’s been here in this room with little ones testing them, because it’s kids that haven’t obtained the age to be eligible for kindergarten, but they can do the early entry exam. She tests them and if they pass the early entry exam then we can let them in and receive funding for them prior to reaching that (age of eligibility).”
Roark said there are currently 19 children who have qualified for early entrance to kindergarten for the upcoming school year.
“We’ve never had 19 early entrants,” Roark said.
Board Chairman Gary Farmer mentioned in the approximately 5 years the district has been allowing early entrance, this year has the largest number of children taking advantage of the opportunity.
“I think the first year we had two,” Farmer said.
Lee shed some light on the testing requirements.
“If they aren’t five by August 1, then this is a way for parents to see if they are ready for kindergarten,” Lee said. “It’s really important that they are ready. With (the test) we use, the cutoff score is 61.”
Lee noted that all 19 of this year’s applicants for early kindergarten achieved at least the minimum score required.
“We didn’t have one that didn’t make it,” Lee said. “On the rare occasion a child might not be able to do that, they really aren’t ready.”
Lee added if a child does not achieve the minimum score, they search for other pre-kindergarten options for that child.
“We had 19 applicants, we got 19 tested and 19 passed,” Lee told the board.
Farmer asked for a motion on Roark’s recommendation to allow the 19 students to attend kindergarten during the 2024 – 2025 school year. The motion passed with no opposition.