I did visit another school in our district. We only had one other option. (Because we got a SINA letter, it told us what school(s) we could transfer to if we elected to do that. There was only one that had room for a first grader.) The principal at that school asked if our principal knew I was looking at other schools. I said no and asked him to keep the information to himself, that we were just exploring options.
After realizing it wasn't going to be much different at that school either, we decided to look at private schools. After looking at the schools and talking with the principals at length, we decided to make the move. The class sizes are smaller where DD is enrolled now, the work seems more challenging and what I see come home is at a much higher level. No tally marks, either!!! DD told me yesterday how happy she was that she transferred.
Is it possible to meet with a child psychologist or counselor who has experience with gifted kids and has some knowledge of the schools in your area? That really helped us.
Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions or need to vent.
