UPDATE:
I went to the meeting today at my son's school, all prepared with my speech, a stack of books with highlighted references to grade skipping, and test results - but funny enough, the whole meeting was pretty short, and all I had to do was sit back and listen to them.
The principal took charge and it seems they already had a mini-meeting last week to discuss my son's progress. They all agreed that grade acceleration to 3rd grade next school year would be in my son's best interest. So from 1st grade, he'll go to 3rd next school year, and he'll be doing 5th grade reading (his report card will have 3rd grade marks for the subjects). And since right now, he's already grouped in with the 3rd grade GATE students, they will put him with the 4th graders next year, starting off with one block at first as opposed to two blocks of GATE like he's getting right now.
They talked to me about things I can do this summer to get Lyle ready -- ie, introduce him to cursive, master shoe-tying, help him become more responsible with his work/things, get supplemental reading to read up on things he'll miss (knowledge gaps). They're also aware that he might not make much improvement on his handwriting, so they are open to providing him a laptop to use in the classroom for word processing use in case he gets too frustrated at taking too long to write out his thoughts. The Highly Gifted office said they can provide one for my son if the school's laptop supply is limited, but the principal said they want to have him try first at handwriting like everyone else and have the laptop option as backup if he gets really frustrated.
I have to give Clark County's Highly Gifted program much kudos for all their help and guidance, and also my son's school principal and teachers. As a single mom, I've been unable to afford a private school for my son, and to have the public school system that my son's currently in right now work around his needs -- it's simply a blessing!
