Should schools put twins in the same class or separate them? And what, if any, say should the parents have in this process?

Plenty, if you ask me.

The question came up in an interesting story published this week in Boulder, Colo.’s The Daily Camera. The story notes that schools are educating more multiples, citing statistics that show 34 of 1,000 births now are twins.

School officials make good points in the story, saying that twins are split up to encourage individual strengths and because one sibling often dominates. But some districts require all multiples to be separated, prompting a rise in parent citizen groups that have pushed for legislation to be involved in the placement of their children. Laws have been passed in four states – Georgia, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Texas.

Legislation is a bit much, but it’s what happens when common sense gets thrown out the window. Unlike many parents, I do believe the school knows best in some areas.
But as the parent of fourth-grade twins, I can’t imagine being told by the school that requiring them to be separated is what’s best for my children.

Or, as Kathy Dolan, a New York mom to twin boys and creator of www.twinslaw.com, says in the story: "You can't have these across-the-board policies. Children should be placed according to their needs, and you have to have parent input. We really know whether they need to be together or apart."

I couldn’t agree more.

Glenn Cook, Editor in Chief