Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Gifted options in Florida School Districts?

I have a child receiving gifted services at an excellent K-8 school in Hernando County. The County is opening a gifted center and stating that my child is dismissed from gifted unless he moves to the new school.

I am being given the impression by Hernando County that a single specialised center, with no other options for kids who for various reasons want to stay at there current schools, is perfectly normal and acceptable in Florida.

I know Sarasota has a gifted center but still offers gifted services at their zoned elementary & middle schools.

Does anybody have information on wether I am being advised correctly? Are there other Counties with this all or nothing system in place?

Coach, I'm in Florida, too, well north of you, but wanted to reassure that I know of no such thing in our SD or either of the adjacent SD's.

One district has no services other than in-school pull-outs through at least middle school, with some magnets and academies at the high school level.

Other District has two separate magnets at the elementary level for gifted and a third focused on science and math - all of which start at 2nd grade. There are different magnets at the middle school and high school level as well. As far as I know none of these magnet programs eliminate G&T programming at individual schools - access is limited at the magnets so some in-school programming stays in place.

Two other adjacent districts have some in-school pull-outs at elementary level, but I know less about them.

I would be questioning things like space limitations - if there are currently 100 identified gifted children in the third grade in that district, but only spaces for 60 at the new center, how do they intend to resolve that? Under state law as I understand it, once a child has been identified as gifted, some options must be available, 'tho they may be maddeningly inadequate. I've had pretty good luck trudging through the county school board policies on their web sites as a starting point - they refer directly to the state laws and regulations administered by the Department of Education.

Is transportation addressed - do they bus or expect parents to provide? Since the center would appear to pull form the whole county, it might mean quite long bus rides, even if the district provides transportation.

Just thinking of counter arguments - how do they anticipate dealing with children identified in the middle of the school year - no services until next school year or yank them around?

Gotta tell you though, with our current situation, I think I would jump for joy at the prospect of a gifted center, but that's probably because I don't have that "gifted services at an excellent K-8 school" that you have.

Hope this perspective helps a little! Sounds to me like there is more to the story - budget issues are looming large in my area. All money saving options are on the table, even some really unpleasant ones, like what it sounds like your SD is considering by consolidating gifted services. Keep digging and good luck.

I'd recommend checking the law. Obviously all states are different, and I am not in FL so I have no idea what your state law is. But I've never heard of any state with required GT education. Testing and ID, yes. But specific educational provisions, no.

I freely admit that I may be way off here, and please forgive me if I am. But it seems like someone would have said "FL is great--they mandate services!" if that were the case. I've never heard it, so I'm skeptical.

But I'll say again, this is not my area, so I'm totally talking out of my hat on this!

YES to your question Dottie.

Our state mandates ID but no services. They're working on that.

And, personally, I'd say mandating services but without funding or requiring follow-through is essentially the same thing as not mandating services, which is why I don't include PA in my list of "states that require specific educational provisions." If provisions are required by the law but not provided, and if there's no fallout from that dereliction of duty, then provisions are not actually required IRL. If that makes any sense...?

PA is a state that's supposed to be better than most, too. I've not heard the same of FL, which is why I'm skeptical.

Still, take me with a grain of salt on this!

I agree in principle that Florida doesn't really mandate services, although like many states it doesn't look too bad on paper.

I looked back at the state gifted rules (6A-6.03019 AND 6a-6.030191, Florida Administrative Code) and they have a procedure to identify gifted students and mandate the development of an Education Plan (EP). Actual procedures are determined at the District level, but the state regulation specifically requires the EP to include a statement of goals, specific instruction for the student, progress reports along with when and where. The state rules also specifically require parental participation in the development and review of the EP.

Implementation of such regulations is where the rubber hits the road. None of the things I described above, guarantee that the parent's opinion actually caries much weight.

I don't know the details of how the funding works out, but my understanding is that gifted services in FL are funded under Exceptional Student Education (ESE), so the bulk of the focus is on the students at the other end of the bell curve.

The way things look right now in most of FL, funding of just about everything outside of regular classrooms has no guarantees (except the governor's pet project - newly enacted PE requirements). At least one nearby school district has eliminated on site school nurses in favor of a rotating schedule. I'm glad my kid doesn't have a potentially life threatening allergy or chronic condition with no medical professional located on the school grounds.

As I mentioned before my District policies specifically reference acceleration as a gifted education option. Yet no one at our school had done it, and comments from parents and teachers have been emphatic that it won't be considered.

But back to Coach's question. I think the mandate for gifted programming is only part of the question. There is also the issue of arbitrarily terminating an existing arrangement, which was probably part of an approved EP, with essentially no notice. My concerns have more do to with the alteration in the educational options for his child, including depriving him of one that has been in place and apparently has been working for his child.

What options would anyone else on the board have if their school sent home a note on the last day of school that their child's educational accomodations were being eliminated effective the start of the next school year? There is a difference between having mandate for gifted education options and having worked something out, however tenuous, and having it yanked away.

Agreed. It's horrible to have options limited, especially with no notice like that. No question!