Well, he made it. The kid with the craziest school record of top scores and dropping a course to avoid an F, has graduated. It wasn't a given. I was checking the online Gradebook daily right to the big day to be sure something didn't change in the English grade, dropping that required course back down to an F. (Grades weren't all in, DS turned in assignments in a few classes for two days after he got his diploma until the Gradebook closed.)
Thanks to DS finally agreeing to see two tutors in the final 6 weeks, he passed.
With a Science tutor, he brought his AP Bio grade up from F do C, and all his tests went from Ds to As. He got in almost all the assignments...late, but in. The tutor redirected DS' test-taking quirks and basically sat with him and nudged him on the next step in his assignments.
And the English tutor. Oh, my. Every time they met, she called me later to check in, and we talked about giftedness. Finally I came right out and asked her: "You're gifted, aren't you?" Yes, she answered, yes she is. I think that's why they meshed so well, and she got him writing and turning in essays, neither of which he could do before. In fact, after two essays with the tutor he wrote one more ON HIS OWN and turned it in late. The teacher, however, had already said he wouldn't accept it. Mind you, we had had a mini-IEP-and-English meeting where we addressed DS getting those last three essays in. And one of the IEP objectives is to turn in assignments. Grading this one wouldn't raise the grade from D to C, but still it should have been accepted late when other, older work was being accepted from other students in the class. Yes, I objected. No, there was no response, not from caseworker, teacher, or counselor. We are done with the school now, last kid out, so I'm not sure if I should escalate it. What do you think?
On to college orientation! Oh, and filling out the student services form for support at the school. The English tutor has said she'd be happy to tutor long-distance!
