HEBRON, Ky. — Students in Kentucky were given the option to retake this past school year, but local school district officials say the number of students requesting to do so is very low.

Districts had until June 1 to decide whether or not to allow students to retake their previous school year.

It wasn’t an easy decision for the Bucks family, but mom Sam, dad Joe, and son Jackson, said ultimately, it was the best decision for Jackson to repeat the 11th grade at Conner High School next school year.

Jackson Bucks said his decision is mostly sports related. (Bucks family)

It’s a chance for him at do-over of a year that he said was pretty weird for everyone.

“In my opinion, it was a lot harder to learn, because I’m more of a visual learner," Jackson said. "I don’t think the teachers really knew what they were doing as much. The whole online and switching over. It was for sure for some students a lot easier to grasp the concept of online and just getting through, because you can work more at your own pace. That’s what I did, I was able to finish a lot earlier than most students. It was just a different atmosphere altogether, really. It just felt like it wasn’t even high school, almost.”

It was difficult to stay behind his group of friends in his grade, and the Bucks weren’t sure how repeating his grade would affect Jackson’s college eligibility.

But another junior year means another year of baseball and football for Jackson, and with that, scholarship potential. Plus, Jackson was already one of the youngest in his grade.

“He can stay behind and get caught up physically, and then as well, maturity, from a maturity standpoint,” Joe said. “It’s been a long process of trying to determine if this is really the right thing to do for him,” Sam said. “In his individual case, I think it works.”

While he will be repeating some classes, Jackson will also be taking some new classes that count toward college credit.

Jackson is one of the few students in Northern Kentucky repeating a grade, the idea of which individual school districts in Kentucky had to decide if they would even allow.

Campbell County Schools voted not to.

The Kenton County, Boone County and Covington Independent Public School districts are allowing re-dos, but only had 95, 60, and 14 students, respectively doing so.

And those numbers continue to fall, for reasons Boone County Schools Community Relations Coordinator Barbara Brady explained.

“Things like you won't receive extra credit, no grade, it could harm eligibility for scholarships, you can't get college level courses for the student price if you do-over,” Brady said. “In other words, a do-over just allows the student to sit in class and re-learn what they didn't learn the year before.  Their previous grade in that class does not change so there's very little incentive to re-do.”

Covington Independent Public Schools Director of Community and Family Engagement Stacie Strotman said the district is trying to push as many kids toward catching up via summer school, and aways from repeating grades, as possible. 

“Research tells us that that’s actually ineffective for students and their academic success,” Strotman said.

As is the case with Jackson, many students electing to repeat are for sports related reasons, said Boone County High School Principal Tim Schlotman. Boone County High School itself only had 10 students request to repeat a year.

“You’re not going to necessarily re-do the class, get higher grades. You may be in the same class, I guess to enhance your understanding of that particular topic,” he said. “It’s certainly not as easy as just saying I want to do a supplemental year, and that’s that. There’s a lot of criteria involved, and a lot of things for the families to think about.”

The Bucks said they’re OK with being outliers. Guidance counselors helping them map out the rest of Jackson’s high school career gave them the confidence they needed.

“And if that hadn’t happened, I don’t think that we would’ve made the same decision,” Sam said.