Sometimes you'll find that a highly gifted kid at a Tier III school is very much a treasured commodity.
When my DD was transitioning out of a private K-5 school and open enrolling to a district next door to her home district, one of our only options was a middle school on the "wrong" side of town. The administration went out of its way to make sure my daughter was placed in appropriately challenging classrooms and many of her teachers seemed to be delighted to have her in their classes. My wife and I felt the school was happy to have a student of our daughter's caliber choose to go there (rather than join in with those running away to the other side of town).
--S.F.
