Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy vent - conversation with incompetent aide

Thanks for the feedback, Indigo.

Might there be an opportunity to make a brief presentation to the board, about giftedness? There are resources like "A Nation Deceived" and many more.

BTDT. I am part of the second wave of gifted parents trying to make change. All but one of the first wave has left the school. We have 2 out of 15 gifted supporters on the board. When our group of parents last addressed the board, the first board response began with, "Tell the little geniuses..."

This particular aide is middle aged, holds a master's degree, making a career change and has some teaching experience. When we first met in the team meeting, she was the only one at the meeting who knew the gifted buzzwords and was actually educating the teacher and principal on what she was saying. I had good hopes for her, but remained cautious of course. This aide was presented to us by the principal as "the solution" to my son's need for acceleration. Now, I had already had enough experience at this school to know to not hold my breath here. I mean, they were not allowing my son to continue a successful acceleration. I knew this was not a good situation. I did think, however, that this aide (and teacher) had the maturity and bare minimum competence to alert me to my son's apparent anxiety. Especially when I was waving big giant red flags around his head.

In thinking about this, I think the aide probably just knew the buzzwords about gifted education. But she clearly has no experience and does not understand or support gifted children. She is thinking that my son is not as anxious because I have backed off with contacting the school on a regular basis re: my son's refusal to go to school. She is thinking that I have "given up" and am no longer interested in accelerating my son at school. Well, she is right. I AM NOT longer interested in accelerating my son AT school. He does it at home and misses a good chunk of school to do it. And he is happy and relaxed because he doesn't have to spend so much time in the classroom being stifled by the poor environment.

When I spoke with her, I just felt like I was talking to Nurse Ratchet. She knew exactly what she was doing by ignoring my requests to come to school.

By the way, as mentioned before, my son's classroom teacher has completely signed off on educating my son. She usually does not attend any meetings that we have and have never responded to any emails. She is super sweet, but she is not really in charge of my son.