Father thinks son is
better served by
repeating eighth grade

Usually, parents resist the idea of having their child "flunk" a grade. But Scott Nelson wants his 14-year-old son to repeat eighth grade at Waimanalo Intermediate to prepare him better for high school.

The school says no. He didn't flunk. He met academic standards, so Travis was promoted to ninth grade at Kailua High School for this school year.

That is standard procedure in Hawaii's public schools. But Scott Nelson is so unhappy with the decision that he has refused to enroll Travis at Kailua and is planning to home-school his son.

"Why should any parent be satisfied with their child just meeting the standards when, properly nurtured and cultivated, that child can so far exceed them?" asked Nelson, who is working toward a master's degree in educational counseling.

"He needs to shine," Nelson added. "He needs to be set up to hit that home run so he can go to high school at full steam, so he can succeed in high school."

School officials say they cannot discuss individual cases because of student privacy, but generally, students who pass their courses move up to the next level.

"We don't retain kids that are doing well," said Clayton Fujie, deputy superintendent of Hawaii's public schools. "If they have met the criteria, then we promote them to the next grade. We work hard to make sure the kids are learning, and if they are, there's no reason for us to retain them."

Travis is willing to stay on at Waimanalo Intermediate, where he got C's in English and math, a B in science and a D in social studies last year. He liked his eighth-grade teachers, and said he thinks another year with them will help him be a better student in high school.

"They really care, and they want you to do good," said Travis, who is 5-foot-6 and 120 pounds after a recent growth spurt. "They kind of push you and help you get all your work done."

Scott Nelson said his son is bright but struggled academically after his parents divorced several years ago. He got back on track during the last school year, his first at Waimanalo Intermediate, with the help of "awesome teachers," his father said.

Nelson said he first inquired at the school about having Travis stay back another year in March and was turned down by Principal Susan Hummel on the last day of school. He appealed the principal's decision but got word last month that it is final.

Hummel told the Star-Bulletin that she could not discuss individual cases, but she follows the promotional guidelines set by the Department of Education.

"We have to look at a lot of different factors," she said. "Parents would have input. But the policy has always stood. At this point, until it changes, a child can be promoted when he earns the requisite credits."

Under Department of Education policy, decisions on promotion and retention are up to the principal, upon recommendation of the child's teachers. Factors to be weighed include academic achievement; physical, social, emotional and mental development; chronological age; and attendance history. Decisions are "open to parental review."

Travis, who was born March 11, 1991, is already among the older kids in his class, which includes those born through Dec. 31. He would be 19 when he graduates if he repeats eighth grade. His father describes him as "a good kid" and "not a behavior problem."

A natural comic, Travis plays Pop Warner football, making a splash one year with his blond hair died purple. He also wrestles, taking after his father, who coached wrestling at Saint Louis School until 2002. Nelson noted that some of his athletes at Saint Louis had repeated a year before high school.

"It's not uncommon for private schools across the nation to hold kids back for a year, normally in the intermediate age," Nelson said. "It's for academic reasons, emotional, physical reasons, to fully develop the child. It wasn't to gain an athletic advantage. It was to develop the study habits to succeed in college."

While rare, cases in which parents want to keep their children back a year have cropped up at public schools from time to time.

School officials caution that repeating a grade can be damaging emotionally for teens because of the social stigma. Some students rebel at the prospect of sitting through courses already taken.

Caroline Wong, principal of Moanalua Middle School for 15 years, said schools have to consider each child "case by case."

"It's a very difficult time because of the adolescent issues," she said. "The research clearly shows that retention for the most part doesn't work. If a child doesn't finish middle school at 14, there's a good chance he won't graduate from high school."

But there are times that retaining a child makes sense, she said. Boys who are the youngest in their grade can benefit from another year because males generally mature more slowly.

"If it's a young boy, we've done it," Wong said, "if they're late-born boys and they're struggling in school. Especially if they're small, and they're coming from another school, and the kid sees the advantage of it, then there's some benefits to being retained and working on basic skills."

"If it's a punitive thing, and the parent is making the child repeat, then it backfires," she said. "The better strategy is the intervention and support to help them at the next level."

At Niu Valley Middle School, registrar Chinami Yoshii said one father wanted his child to repeat a year because he had done poorly in math. The school instead offered extra help so that the child could succeed in the subject.

Sometimes parents of children learning English as a second language want to put their children back a year, she said.

"We work case by case and look at the needs of the child," she said. "In most cases we went with the grade level."

Scott Nelson is frustrated. He said the research on retention reflects students who were forced to repeat a grade because they failed academically, not students who are choosing to stay back. Ninth grade is when grades start counting for college applications, and he wants Travis to have lots of college options.

"Education is important to me," Nelson said. "My father spent 43 years in public education in California, and my grandfather was a university professor. I'm not just a pushy parent."