Marion Co, FL: More 6yo's unprepared for kindergarten; 'kids that haven’t been potty trained yet'
- The end of childhood
- Oct 7, 2025
- 1 min read
Oct 5, 2025, WFTV: More 6-year-olds are showing up unprepared for kindergarten
Marion County, FL leaders are growing frustrated at a rising trend: a “fair number” of kindergarteners show up without basic life skills. “We had kids that didn’t even know their given name,” School Board Member Nancy Thrower complained during the district’s Sept. 4 meeting. “We have kids that don’t know how to hold a book, kids that haven’t been potty trained yet, and they’re six years old.”
The problem isn’t limited to Marion, but leaders there try to be aggressive about their concerns. The school board sent state lawmakers a series of recommendations, including lowering the mandatory school age to five years old and tightening the number of unexcused absences a child can get before a district gets involved.
“Kindergarten is not daycare,” Beck said. “We expect kindergarten kindergarteners to come to school, to attend daily, to get all of the information and to learn all that they can.”
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