Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy An interesting weekend discussion....

Your principal sounds amazing acs! I hope that other family is able to find a fit at your school. I'm sure it would be very helpful for them to talk to you first hand. I would love to talk to a family at our school at our school in a similar position. I have put feelers out, but I really haven't found anyone quite in our position.

At our school, the parent base is so hyper involved, I can almost sense the eye rolling and sighing that is happening when a parent repeatedly asks for "special treatment" for their child.

Wow acs - how wonderful! I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will encounter similar support when we enter the school system. I attended a meeting where it was discussed that the superintendent has made a real turnaround and is on board for getting better programs for gifted kids, but they're starting in high school (which I don't have any problems with, those kids have missed out long enough, I'm just hoping it trickles down sooner rather than later).

Kimck - we were lucky to have found someone with an HG kid in our school system. She approached us when she got to know our son (and she recommended testing before school). This person, whose HG kid is 9, was the pioneer in our district and has been very busy advocating to help these kids. You might find you have to be the pioneer.

I know what you are saying. Each kid is different and there isn't one approach that will work for all GT kids In many cases, I would say that this was the problem. And I guess it might be in this case as well. But what has struck me about this principal is her ability to propose a solution, listen to criticism of that decision, and make course corrections as needed. She had not met my son when we made the first plan. There was one teacher assignment I didn't like. I let her know a bit more about my son's personality and she saw it wouldn't be a good fit. And she placed him with another teacher (who was a perfect match). There was a scheduling problem they hadn't foreseen in the first couple weeks, which resulted in a detention for DS because of a tardy that was unavoidable because of the physical location of the classes he was going to and from. I sent her a quick email explaining the situation. By the next day, problem was solved and DS got an apology.

I actually suspect that if I do hear something different from this family about this girl that makes me think the principal misunderstood, I could email her and let her know my "take" and she would probably be thrilled to know what the problem had been so she could fix it. In fact, I got the sense that this was one of the reasons she wanted me to talk to them!

Yes, Dottie, I do think this is a family that has been burned before.

It would be interesting to see how DS and this girl get allong. DS is very verbal and has always done well around girls. But he will be in 7th and she's in 6th and probably they won't cross paths much. DS will be going directly to the high school in the morning for Geometry.

As I have said before, this is all happening at a public school in a lower middle class to lower class neighborhood. It would not be a school that you would pick based on its test scores or location. You just can't tell a book by its cover. Which may be another reason this other family is skeptical...

acs - it's exactly those types of schools which I"ve heard great things about as far as meeting the needs of gifted kids. I've read it's precisely districts like mine, that think they are so great and challenging, no kid could possibly need more than they can offer, everyone moves here for this district, which does very little for kids who do need more.

Your Principal sounds wonderful!

I hope you can help the other family.

Acs, your principal sounds like a conscientious, flexible person. When that other family has gotten to know her better they may relax a bit. Are they supposed to call you if they want to talk?

It is just so hard to tell what you are getting into with a new school. Sometimes they promise you everything and give you nothing. Sometimes you negotiate your heart out and get nowhere. Sometimes they actually listen and respond. But in the spring before the new school year, you really don't know what to expect.

So I hope I can reassure them. I should remember, too, that two of DS's strengths is adaptability and self-advocacy, so I do feel a little less anxious sending him into a new situation. If he were just as smart but with a different temperment, I probably would have felt more of an obligation to pave the way for him.

I gave the principal permission to share my phone number. It's a small enough town, there is a good chance I already know or know someone who knows the parents, so I am trying to figure out who it might be. LOL!