*Update*
We met with the principal today and surprisingly, the school learning specialist. Evidently the principal had her observe DS in the classroom today and then she decided to attend our meeting. We had no idea that would happen!
Essentially, the learning specialist is thrilled to work with DS, seems in just one day to already have a real understanding of him. She said she was a gifted child herself and felt like she got screwed and is determined to make sure that "all" kids being taught at their level means ALL kids, not just those that are easy.
They told us that they've had trouble with this teacher in the past and that they assured us that they knew how to work with her to make sure that DS will be challenged within the classroom and gave many specific examples how they'll do that. She even suggested that in 1st grade he be allowed to use a keyboard in class since obviously his ideas are not able to get on paper due to his slower-developing fine motor skills!
So we'll see... He won't be subject accelerated out of the class but they were on a mission to make sure that he is being well challenged in his own classroom. They're going to do a reading assessment and allow him to check out books at the library at his level, change up the "station" time to make sure that if they're patterning- Ds is doing complex patterns not ABAB patterns.
After a few weeks of feeling really down on our decision, I think that maybe we're in the right place. If all the talk turns into action, I'll have a huge sigh of relief.
