Ellie's Story

Ellie was born on Sept. 7, 1993 at 7:30 PM in Barberton, Ohio. After delivering 2 1/2 weeks past due and being in labor for 36 hours, I looked at my daughter in wonder and joy. I couldn't believe that she was finally with me. When she opened her eyes and looked at me for the first time, I held her closely and swore that I'd protect her from whatever evils awaited her and that I'd fight for her to the death if needed.

If only that promise were so easy to keep.

During the early years, everyone who knew Ellie saw that she was intelligent. Ellie had lots of one-on-one attention for the first couple of years. That time was spent playing games, watching PBS, singing songs. By the time she was two, Ellie had developed quite a large vocabulary and had one of the most remarkable memories that I'd ever seen in a child. When she was 2 1/2, we enrolled her in pre-school so that she would have more interaction with other children, and her teachers were amazed that she could already recognize upper and lower case letters, count to 50, and do many other things that other children her age couldn't.

Ellie developed an interest in science early. She loved to watch dinosaur shows (not necessarily the one with the big purple dinosaur!) and enjoyed watching the PBS series "The Solar Empire" more than she enjoyed Sesame Street. By the time she was 3, she could explain the basics of the water cycle and the digestive system (because she'd seen it on the Discovery channel or some such thing) and knew the names of most of the planets (in order of distance from the Sun).

When she was 3 1/2, one of her teachers gave her a copy of a Kindergarten readiness test that is used in Ohio. Ellie rolled right through it. The teacher was thrilled with the results and encouraged us to get Ellie into Kindergarten the following year. We resisted though. Emotionally, she just didn't seem quite ready for that. Her teacher then said, "You know, you're going to have to fight her teachers to make sure that she doesn't get bored."

Such prophetic words. I pushed them out of my mind and forgot about them for awhile.

All during this time, Ellie's personality and temperament were blooming as well. She'd become a happy, friendly child with a wide variety of interests. Her even temperament made her the favorite of her teacher and our friends. Her loving attitude was such that she would feel compassion for everyone and everything.

When Ellie was 4 1/2, my husband and I got fabulous job offers for companies in the Chicago area. After much discussion, we decided to accept them. We were so excited. We looked at it as a great opportunity for Ellie because, we assumed, the broad cultural range and large number of museums would afford her a better education than that she would have received in Ohio. By this time, she was already writing her letters and starting to read words as well.

This is where the nightmare begins. We knew that the Kindergarten cut-off in Ohio was late September. So we started getting Ellie excited about leaving the relative safety of pre-school and starting "real school". Little did we know that the Illinois cut-off date is Sept 1. Or that the school districts around the Chicago area were extremely strict about not allowing any exceptions to the cut-off date.

As the start of Kindergarten approached in the summer of 1998, I started attempting to find some alternative so that Ellie could begin Kindergarten on what we felt was her real schedule. Time after time, I had administrators (even those for private schools) reject her because of her birth date. Finally, I found a private program that would accept her. It wasn't the best program, but it was _A_ program. And, we were told, the public school would allow Ellie to "skip" Kindergarten if she completed the private program. We were thrilled. I felt like the battle was won.

I was wrong (again). Right before the start of school, we visited a friend of ours who has had some exposure with gifted and talented children. After 15 minutes with Ellie, our friend said, "Oh man! She's going to be bored to tears in Kindergarten!" As Ellie's preschool teacher and our friend had predicted, we had to struggle with the teacher to keep Ellie interested. The repetitive exercises were "boring and stupid" (Ellie's words; not mine). Ellie wasn't interested in doing them. She didn't care. So, she would just sit in class and ponder the mysteries of the universe. (Actually, we're not quite sure what she was pondering, but she certainly wasn't thinking about writing the letter 'A' 20 times on a sheet of paper!) I fought with the teacher repeatedly. This woman made Ellie's life such a nightmare that Ellie finally said "I guess I'm just stupid." As bad as things were though, we really didn't feel that we had any options. No other program would accept her.

About 3 months into the school year, the teacher quit and a more enlightened one took her place. This teacher understood that children learn at different rates and taught the kids accordingly. Ellie's reading slowly improved, and she started getting excited about Kindergarten graduation.

By Spring 1999, things seemed to be going smoothly again. Once again, we were mistaken. We found out that the school district would NOT waive Kindergarten for Ellie... even when she completed the private program. Unfortunately, the school offering the Kindergarten program had no first grade program. Once again, we were in limbo.

So, I started calling again. We contemplated moving to another school district, but nixed the idea after one principal in another district told me that I was "overly involved in [my] child's education" and that I should "back off and leave it to the professionals." By then, it was obvious that the problem was not limited to just one district. I called our district superintendent who told me that I had "no right to put [my] child in a situation in which [she] was guaranteed to fail." I called principals of different elementary schools in the area and was repeatedly left feeling like I was a monster for wanting my child to be in first grade this year.

I was absolutely amazed at what I was hearing. No one wanted to discuss the issue with me. No one wanted to MEET my daughter before making a judgment on her suitability for first grade. No one cared to see her class scores or any of her work from the private program. No one wanted to listen. We even offered to pay someone who would independently evaluate Ellie but were told that "those tests don't mean anything here." No matter what we said or offered to do, the school was adamant... Ellie MUST attend Kindergarten at the public school starting Fall 1999 (unless we decided to skip Kindergarten and enter her in first grade or Kindergarten starting Fall 2000).

This has been the most frustrating, heart-breaking situation. We had no idea that people with so much power could be so cruel. We've been advocates for our child. I keep hearing the words of her preschool teacher over and over. Sure... we knew we'd have to fight. But who would have thought that it would be at such a young age?

We've been repeatedly told that Ellie had no chance for success if she "skipped" Kindergarten. What the school administrators fail to recognize (and will not even discuss) is that:

1. Learning does not begin at Kindergarten. For most children, learning starts before that. All children come to the school system with a different set of experiences.
2. Ellie is progressing according to the timetable of the state in which she was born. Ohio's cut-off is late Sept while the Illinois cut-off is Sept 1.
3. Some children learn faster than others.
4. Ellie already completed Kindergarten. Granted, she did so in a private program, but she still did it.

If Ellie had attended Kindergarten in Ohio, she would have been eligible to transfer to First Grade in Illinois. Yet, because she went to a private school in Illinois, she's not.

None of that matters to the schools though.

So, on Aug. 25, Ellie started Kindergarten... AGAIN! In an ironic twist to the situation, the teacher that did not understand how to challenge Ellie at the private school last year is now Ellie's Kindergarten teacher again. Ellie was optimistic about the situation though. She knows everything will be OK because we've always been there for her. But I could see the sad look in her eyes as she watched her friends from the private Kindergarten last year go off to the First Grade room without her.

To date, Ellie has never been tested so we cannot say for sure that she is gifted. I think the point is moot though. She is a child with exceptional needs that have not been met by the schools. And because of six lousy days, she's not being allowed to progress at her natural rate.