Thank you so much for your responses!
I am glad to say that the meeting went much differently than I had expected, and I am satisfied with the outcome.
Part of the situation is that we are dealing with the county�s virtual education program. It�s not like other states where the program is statewide - in Florida, each county has its own �virtual school� through K12, and so there appear to be 37 sets of rules and 37 interpretations of policies throughout the state. My particular county, while I love it dearly, has a reputation for being redneck-y and uneducated (although we are within a mile of three other counties, including one with a stellar university), and the virtual program had never encountered a case like my son before. They have never had an acceleration before�ever�so they are forming a committee to study the legislation and figure out both what they have to do, and also what they can accomplish within the legal framework. My son is their guinea pig
In the meantime, I have been informed that he can do all of the second grade work in the fall semester, and proceed to third grade in the spring. While this is not my ideal outcome, it�s darn close, and I�ll take it.
I'd like to see them figure out a way to STOP this, in point of fact
This was exactly my thought. When I spoke with the teacher on the phone, I asked �What would you do if he were to complete all the math curriculum in December?� Teacher�s response �Well, he can�t do that.� And my response: �I need to know what you mean by �can�t� -- he�s already finished two months� worth of work in a week.�
ask to see policies in writing
Yeah�apparently there aren�t any yet
Each school must offer as ACCEL options: whole-grade and midyear promotion; subject-matter acceleration
Curses! I wish I had seen this one before the meeting. I have been told time and time again that the district does not allow mid-year acceleration, including at the most recent meeting. I will email this to the guidance counselor. The only remaining question seems to be how they will handle the end-of-year high-stakes testing, because in our area the second graders take SAT 10, and the third graders take FCAT. The guidance counselor believes that DS will still be listed as a second grader through the end of the year (even though he�ll be well into third), because their computer system will not allow them to change his grade level until the end of the year.
I, for one, truly don�t care which test he takes, as long as he can be promoted to fourth the following year. This is the guidance counselor�s concern - that when they try to place him in fourth the response will come down that he �can�t� because he hasn�t passed the third grade FCAT, but by the same token won�t allow him to take the FCAT, because the system will say �he�s just a second grader.�
Thank you so much for your input. I hope we can come to a reasonable plan for my DS, particularly with this new knowledge about midyear promotion.
I appreciate you guys.
Liz
