Preston County board presses staff to draft retention policy under Third Grade Success Act

At the Oct. 13 Preston County Board of Education meeting, K–8 curriculum director Katie Rush briefed the board on early, beginning‑of‑year counts tied to the state's Third Grade Success Act and outlined a timeline for local policy work.

"Two years ago now, the state passed a new law called the Third Grade Success Act," Rush said, describing the law's goal of ensuring students read on grade level by third grade and the statute's retention provisions. She told the board that preliminary, non‑final beginning‑of‑year ELA screen data show 88 second graders below the second‑grade cut score and 116 third graders below the third‑grade cut score; she added that 53 of the second graders and 18 of the third graders on those lists have speech‑only IEPs. Rush stressed these are early figures subject to change when the district submits certified counts and when the General Summative Assessment (GSA) results are reported.

Why it matters: the Third Grade Success Act allows districts to retain students who have not met required reading and foundational skills benchmarks unless they qualify for a statutory good‑cause exemption. Board members urged staff to move quickly to produce a locally tailored policy that explains how parents will be notified, how good‑cause exemptions will be requested and reviewed, and who will make appeals decisions.

Board direction and questions

Several board members raised operational questions that could follow a significant retention cohort, including staffing, timelines and the process for reviewing exemption petitions. "If we've got a student that's way behind in second grade, we probably missed an opportunity in kindergarten and first grade," one board member said, urging earlier interventions. Members discussed the potential need to reassign teachers within the first 30 days of school if many students are retained, and they asked the administration to quantify staffing impacts so the board can plan budget and personnel responses.

Exemptions, documentation and dyslexia

Rush walked the board through the good‑cause exemption categories the state recommends, and said the guidance is not always explicit about what counts as a qualifying medical or diagnostic determination. "One exemption in the policy is a student who has been diagnosed with dyslexia," Rush said, noting the district typically uses in‑house screeners but does not issue clinical dyslexia diagnoses. The board asked whether the district can rely on evidence from its screeners or must require external diagnostic documentation; staff said they will seek attorney and state guidance and propose clear language in the draft policy.

Rush also noted the importance of MTSS documentation and SAT files: students who have completed two years of intensive intervention with documented progress could meet exemption criteria. "Every single kid that is on that list does have either an IEP already or an intervention plan," Rush told the board, but she also said audit work is underway to ensure files are complete and defensible.

Next steps

Board members requested a staff work plan and initial draft timeline. The board and staff discussed a schedule to begin district communications in January (aligned with middle‑of‑year benchmarks), a goal for a first policy draft by February, and an aim to finalize policy work by the end of the current school year so parents have full notice before the next cohort is subject to retention decisions.

The board did not take a final vote on any retention policy at the Oct. 13 meeting; members instead instructed staff to return with a clear draft, answers to legal questions (including dyslexia/diagnostic evidence and who adjudicates exemption requests), and a staffing/financial impact analysis.

Sources: Katie Rush, K–8 curriculum director; board discussion and district data presented at the Oct. 13, 2025 Preston County Board of Education meeting.

Ending: The board scheduled continued work on the policy and asked staff to present a first draft and supporting analyses in early 2026 so the district can communicate changes to families in the next school year.