Redshirting August Birthday
Hi,
Does anyone have experience redshirting their child in the OUSD system? If so, can you share a bit about the process? I’ve heard it can be a difficult thing to do and want to start exploring our options!
We have a son with an August 14 birthday and live in the Hillcrest district. I think he would do better socially if we were able to redshirt him for a year.
Aug 5, 2025
Parent Replies
We are at an OUSD school (Greenleaf) and enrolled our August 18 birthday kid in TK instead of K which he was eligable for. His preschool teachers recommended that and it was a good choice for us. When we asked around about it, we were told that it's pretty much up to the individual school and principal if they allow it to happen or not. We already had an older sibling in the school so it was easy to have an informal conversation about it ahead of time. They said they were open to that and that they often have some movement in the first few weeks of school between TK and K as kids are put in the best spot. Then when it was time to enter the lottery, I just said in the online portal I wanted to enroll him in TK instead of K. Eventually I got a call from someone with the district confirming that's what I wanted and I said yes. Didn't really seem to be a process, just some conversations and an option on the online portal.
My general impression is that while other school districts like BUSD are very strict on birthdays, OUSD allows some more flexibility. I don't know if it's different between enrolling in K instead of 1st.
I do not know if others have had more success, but I tried to pursue redshirting for my son when I was registering him for the 2024/2025 school year during the Fall of 2023/Winter of 2024. Initially, OUSD told me it would be possible. However, in early 2024, just before our registration was due, I received an email saying the regulations had changed and redshirting was no longer an option. We tried to appeal and were denied.
My son has a late July birthday, so I called and spoke with the OUSD head of enrollment to see what alternatives we might have. He told me the only way would be to enroll him in Kindergarten and then work with the school and his teachers to determine he would need to repeat the year. I was told, "outside of recommendations that originate from an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting as part of a child's Special Education services, we do not admit students who are too old for admittance."
Happy to share more details of our experience if it would be helpful, but we did not find a straightforward way to do this. Hopefully, others have had more luck.