Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes 2012, Section 124D.02, subdivision 1, the Minnetonka School Board chooses to provide opportunities for children who have not reached the age of five years by September 1 in any year to be considered for early entrance into Kindergarten for that year upon application by the parent and successfully meeting the District’s requirements. In order to assure the success of children who are considered for enrollment under this policy, the following criteria must be met:

1.0    Kindergarten Enrollment

1.1    Entrants must be five (5) years of age by September 1.

Exception: Those students who move into the Minnetonka District from another school will be accepted at that grade level only with documented evidence of success from the sending school.

1.2    Children born between September 2 and October 31 who are deemed to have demonstrated superior cognitive ability and above average social and emotional maturity that have led District staff to determine the child’s ability to satisfactorily meet Kindergarten expectations and the ability to progress to First Grade in the subsequent year may be admitted if qualified under provisions specified below. Testing, a parent report and teacher observations of the child’s knowledge, skills and abilities will be used to determine placement. The comprehensive evaluation will use valid and reliable instruments and be aligned with Minnesota’s Kindergarten expectations in addition to the expectations noted above. The final decision will be made by the Early Enrollment Committee.

1.3    This policy will be made available to parents in an accessible format and will be made available to the Minnesota Commissioner of Education upon request.

1.4    The procedures are as follows:

1. By January 15 the Early Enrollment Program Coordinator will notify all families of students who will turn five (5) between September 2 and October 31 of the Early Enrollment procedures.
    
2. Interested parent(s)/guardian(s) must contact the Early Enrollment Program Coordinator on or before March 1 proceeding the September of desired entrance in order to receive application materials.
    
3. The parent(s)/guardian(s) must return the completed Early Enrollment application materials to the Early Enrollment Program Coordinator on or before March 15. Parents must also provide records from preschool programs attended by the child and a release of information regarding preschool performance as well as the parent report noted in section 1.2 above. Permission to test the child is required. Follow-up interviews with parents may be requested by the Coordinator.
    
4. There will be a preliminary screening of the child by a District Kindergarten teacher designated by the Committee to determine if the child meets the eligibility requirements, as determined by the Early Enrollment Committee. If the child meets those requirements, a licensed District psychologist will administer an intelligence test approved by the Superintendent and other assessments as deemed necessary. Following said assessment process, the psychologist will provide the report and recommendations to the Coordinator.
    
5. A team of professionals comprised of the Early Enrollment Program Coordinator, Kindergarten teacher(s), Psychologist, the Coordinator of High Potential programs (or designee), the respective Elementary Principal of the school where the child will attend and the Assistant Superintendent of Instruction will be assembled to make the placement decision for each child who has applied for early entrance. The decision of the Committee will be final. The decision will be communicated immediately thereafter to the respective parents by the Early Enrollment Program Coordinator and no later than April 30 preceding the anticipated enrollment. Copies of all materials will be available upon request.

2.0    First Grade Enrollment

2.1    Entrants must be six (6) years of age on September 1.

Exception: Students who are not six (6) years old and move into the District from another school will be accepted at grade level only with documented evidence of success from the sending school.

2.2    Children born between September 2 and October 31 who have not attended another District school will be required to have testing and observation as determined by the Early Enrollment Program Coordinator to be considered for Early Enrollment in First Grade. The final decision will be made by the Early Enrollment Committee.

3.0    An official certificate of the child's birth will be required as evidence of age upon child's first entrance into the Minnetonka School District.

Adopted: 1/23/03
Revised: 10/24/13
Adopted: 11/7/13