The GT-trained teachers at my DD's high school were the only thing that made it remotely tolerable for her. We homeschooled and did dual enrollment for her last two years, but if she hadn't had at least one teacher who really "got" gifted kids, she would have come home a lot sooner. She actually tried to get the school to allow her to continue attending just the stand-alone gifted class, because she didn't want to give up that teacher, but the principal wouldn't go for it, even though the teacher was fine with the idea. Now that my DS is getting to be high school age, we are contemplating asking the
new principal if he can enroll just for the stand-alone gifted class with the same teacher, who still keeps in touch with the family.
Here is a link to a PDF of the Gifted Secondary Handbook that is used in a lot of Florida districts. It may give you some ideas about what a gifted program at the secondary level might look like and how what you want to do might fit in.
