We've been in situations like the one you describe with the guide; my girls are just too polite and they get lost in the shuffle.

I would think that the teachers they have at a gifted magnet school would be excellent, both in terms of keeping all the children interested and on topic, and also being able to manage a classroom's worth of behavior. The 60/40 split isn't that big a difference -- and it always comes down to particular personalities in the classroom.

The private gifted school in our city looked really good online, until I saw the photos of the high school class trip. I think it was about 15 boys and 1 girl....