| Even though Tony Brooks was only 3 years old, his parents knew he was ready for kindergarten. |
| And they ought to know. His father, also Tony Brooks, is the principal at Centreville Elementary in the Cahokia School District. His mother is a special education director. |
| But the public schools certainly wouldn't admit such a young pupil. So they enrolled their son in a mixed preschool and kindergarten class at Governor French Academy in Belleville. |
| "That was our way of trying to combat that Sept. 1 deadline," Brooks said. |
| Illinois, like most states, requires children to be 5 by September. But the law also offers some leeway: Parents can pay to have their child tested to allow early entrance. The state leaves the testing option up to the local district - a loophole that infuriates and frustrates some parents. |
| Ken Brosh of Belleville tried to enroll his son, Kenny, in Whiteside Elementary School, even though his birthday is in October. The school refused, so the Broshes also turned to Governor French. |
| "We were pretty hot about it," Brosh said. "For him to stagnate a year just because of some foolish state law. ... I think it's counterproductive for him and the nation." |
| The Broshes offered to have their child tested, but the district refused. In Edwardsville, they would have gotten another answer. |
| Lynda Andre, assistant superintendent, says that district allows a younger child to be assessed by a licensed school psychologist. If the child is functioning at a 6-year-old level, he or she is allowed to enroll. |
| "We try to work with the parent and help them make that decision," said Superintendent Ed Hightower. |
| Families across the region are wrestling with this issue as public schools begin registering kindergarten pupils for fall. |
| Christy Horton, assistant director at the Early Childhood Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, knows firsthand the choices parents face with kindergarten enrollment. |
| Her daughter was born Aug. 29, just barely turning 5 before the Illinois cut-off date of Sept. 1. |
| Though her daughter was legally allowed to enter kindergarten, Horton wondered whether it was the best choice. She talked to her daughter's preschool teacher and ultimately decided she was ready. Now in second grade at Marine Elementary, her daughter is thriving. |
| She says her son, who has an October birthday and missed the deadline by a month, benefited by waiting to start kindergarten until the next year. |
| Social and emotional maturity are often the best ways to determine if a child is ready for kindergarten, Horton said, not just whether he or she knows the alphabet and can count. |
| Oldest kindergartners |
| The situation is even stickier in Missouri, where the cut-off date is a month earlier. Parents who are convinced their child is ready for school may try to circumvent the law. |
| For example, Dylan Vermeire and Aironna McKissic turned 5 within two days of each other and missed starting kindergarten last year by less than a month. |
| Their mothers, neighbors in Lake Saint Louis, each figured a way around the system. Dylan goes to a nearby private school that accepts children who turn 5 in September. Aironna was sent to live with her dad in Colorado, where the cut-off date is later than Missouri's Aug. 1 deadline. |
| Both families assumed their children could return to their local public school next fall and start first grade. Aironna is welcome to do so. But Dylan is not. |
| Even more confusing is that another Missouri district might accept both. The law that spells out at what ages students may enroll in kindergarten and first grade has a few quirky loopholes. |
| When it's time for first grade, the law states that children must be 6 years old by Aug. 1 - unless they have completed an accredited kindergarten program. |
| The key word is "accredited." It's up to each district to decide what that encompasses. |
| Rockwood school officials interpret it to mean state accredited, which shuts the door to any transfers into first grade from area private or parochial schools. Those students must wait until second grade to make the switch. |
| Parkway school officials, though, are willing to consider any type of accreditation, including private, parochial and even homeschool programs. |
| "In the law, it just says accredited, which is why you will have variance from district to district," said Mark Van Zandt, a lawyer with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It's perfectly legal from the state's point of view. |
| Dylan's mother, however, has another opinion: "On so many levels, it's discriminatory," said Laura Vermeire. |
| Her frustration is compounded by the fact that state law makes an exception for younger students transferring from an out-of-state public kindergarten or first grade, even if they miss the deadline. |
| "So you value the kindergarten program of any other state" except your own, she said. |
| Most states join Illinois in wanting children to turn 5 by Sept. 1 to begin kindergarten. But some, such as Connecticut, accept children as young as 4 as long as they turn 5 by Jan. 1 of the next year. |
| Missouri has the earliest kindergarten cut-off age in the country. It used to be second to Indiana, which pushed its date back to Aug. 1 for the fall, matching Missouri's cut-off. |
| "I think many people recognized that having the oldest kindergartners in the country is not a good thing," said Mary Tiede Wilhelmus, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Education. "We know so much more about child development and brain research that we know the earlier we get them to school, the better." |
| Redshirting 5-year-olds |
| Some parents believe holding their children back a year, even if they make the cut-off, will give them a competitive edge. They believe the added maturity and knowledge will help their children rise to the top. |
| But not everyone agrees with that view. Barbara Gilman, associate director of the Gifted Development Center in Denver, says gifted children, especially those already reading, can be "quite under challenged" in kindergarten. |
| "Children often feel very uncomfortable being so different from other children," she said. Gilman recalled a recent conversation with a parent who called her about her daughter's reading. The little girl was reading fluently at home, but at school she would read only haltingly because she wanted to fit in with the other children. |
| Gilman said research suggests that exceptionally bright children who are not accelerated in school risk boredom and social isolation. They are at risk of dropping out or ending up vastly underemployed later in life. |
| The Broshes knew their child needed to be challenged. He was reading simple sentences at 4 years old. Now, as a 5-year-old, he's in first grade at Governor French and has aced his last 10 spelling tests. |
| Brooks, the elementary principal, has also seen his son flourish academically. He says it's short-sighted of public schools to focus simply on age when deciding who can enter kindergarten. |
| At age 5, his son can read and is starting first-grade level work. |
| "If we had put him in a public school setting, he wouldn't have been able to do that," he said. |
| Alexa Aguilar of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. |
| asultan@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8300 |