Parents Furious as Washington, DC, Suddenly Forces Kids to Skip Kindergarten and Go Straight to 1st Grade
The article criticizes the current state of the U.S. education system, notably focusing on the practices of educational administrators, referred to derogatorily as “educrats.” It argues for a complete overhaul of the system, suggesting that starting from scratch would yield better outcomes. A specific example discussed is the policy against “redshirting” in Washington, D.C. public schools, which allows parents to delay their child’s entry into kindergarten based on developmental needs. Critics, including parents and social media users, express frustration over stringent policies that fail to account for individual children’s needs, amplifying calls for school choice. The author believes that those in administrative positions prioritize rules over children’s best interests and advocates for parents to seek alternatives to the public school system until meaningful reforms are made.
Education administrators in the public school system, properly derided as “educrats,” must go the way of the woolly mammoth.
Come to think of it, the same holds true for the entire U.S. education system. Starting from scratch would produce something better than what now exists.
For instance, according to Axios, educrats in the Washington, D.C., public schools (DCPS) have prohibited redshirting, a traditional practice by which some families have delayed a child’s enrollment in kindergarten by one year due to developmental issues.
Actual human beings, of course, support such practices on a case-by-case basis. After all, we like to think that reasonable people can reach a sensible decision about a child’s best interests.
Educrats, however — like most bureaucrats — prioritize their own interests. They prefer inflexible adherence to rules for the sake of rules.
Consider, for instance, a characteristically asinine comment about redshirting from Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser.
“We are not a redshirt jurisdiction,” Bowser recently said, per Axios. “We shouldn’t have a policy to say we want some kids to be advantaged to the disadvantage of other kids.”
Ah, yes. Parents who hold back their developmentally challenged kids must do so in order to gain a relative advantage!
Imagine the amount of Marxist drivel you have to have absorbed to look at a mother and father, concerned about their child’s development, and say to them, “We cannot defer your child’s enrollment into kindergarten because it might work to the disadvantage of other kids.”
Raze the entire public school system to the ground and start over. Educrats — and those who produce them in the nation’s abysmal education colleges — may learn to code.
Speaking of families, one parent spoke to Axios anonymously for fear of retribution from DCPS.
“This has been so stressful,” the parent said.
The family in question has a child with developmental difficulties, supported by letters from a child psychologist and a pediatrician. They also had a written promise from an elementary school principal that the child could start the 2025-26 school year in kindergarten — promises confirmed in an d with Axios.
No matter. DCPS educrats have insisted that the child must skip directly to first grade.
“There has been zero sympathy,” the parent said. “They are making no exceptions.”
Meanwhile, on the social media platform X, users called the DCPS policy “horrible” and “a striking argument for school choice.”
If accurate horrible policy. Two of my kids stayed back a year from what they were “supposed to be” for different reasons to address issues.
One is finishing college this year, the other is dueltracking high school/college on an engineering track right now. Kids need flexibility https://t.co/7Jc0VSldEl
— Andrew Donaldson (@four4thefire) July 1, 2025
A striking argument for school choice https://t.co/7dGM9Vw4pw
— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) July 1, 2025
“I cannot understand this for the life of me. Not sure how this puts kids first. And furthermore why families would stay in the District with these kinds of policies,” another user wrote.
A very wild story from @axios.
I cannot understand this for the life of me. Not sure how this puts kids first. And furthermore why families would stay in the District with these kinds of policies. https://t.co/gt5fHw16FN
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 1, 2025
Those incredulous comments, of course have a logical connection.
After all, educrats will never put kids first until we, the voters, demand that elected officials adopt school choice.
In the meantime, parents who can keep their children out of public schools are well advised to do so until we can rid the world of the system the educrats have made and replace it with something better.
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