I am a special educator with a child who is in her second ear of preschool right now. She has a language delay and struggles socially (due in large part to the language delay.) She is doing extremely well academically, but she is not ready for the fast paced kindergarten program they have in her district. I have poured over all of her testing results, observations, and more. I will spare you the extensive details but she is not ready. Another year of pre-k will make a big difference. She will be 5 in June but so far through therapy she has only managed to reach a 3-4 age speech level.
I live in NJ in a district that is no longer friendly to holding kids back because a lot of families years ago began holding back their kids to make them higher achievers in later grades. It put a strain on the schools and they put a stop to it.
As a special educator I know all the things they will say to reassure and pressure me to send her into kindergarten. I don't care. My decision to hold her back isn't a vain one and it wasn't made lightly. I don't care if she's not the best student. I just don't want her to fall through the cracks in our test obsessed school district.
The first step is our meeting. They will recommend her to move on. I will make my case. They will say NO. After that it will go to mediation. Then--- court.
I am trying to plan ahead. I don't know how costly it will be if we make it to that point. (The school MIGHT back down, they avoid court at all costs from what I observed when I worked for the same district).
I have been unable to find information on taking a school to court over such a matter. Any advice? Would I be stupid to even try? Why kind of cost range am I looking at? What kind of lawyer would I need for this situation?