Valley State Senator Votes for Parents Deciding Grade Repeat
HARRISBURG – Valley State Senator John Gordner (R-27th, Berwick) is in full support of a bill that would give parents the option to let their children repeat a grade level next school year.
The bill unanimously passed the state senate Wednesday and now heads to the house, “Because of everything that’s gone in the past 12-13 months in regard to this pandemic, we believe parents should be involved in the process as well.”
Senator Gordner says he too heard from parents across the Valley with many concerns their children didn’t receive the best quality education they could due to the pandemic.
He says conflicting guidelines from the Department of Education didn’t help area Superintendents, “Many times, they were ready to adopt new policies and then literally that day or the day before new policies came out. Look, I believe my superintendents did the best they could, but ultimately, it’s the students that I think suffered and that’s what we need to focus on.”
The bill would give parents until July 15 to decide to hold back their children or not. The legislation gives parents of special education students an option to extend enrollment for another year; currently those students age out of the system at age 21.
