Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Middle school choices

My two cents on this: You won't know if it works until the accommodations are in place, of course; but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not worth a try.

This sounds counterintuitive, but sometimes it makes sense to set up a plan in the place you're desperate to get out of, rather than waiting until you settle into the new one.

Reason 1: the teachers in the old place have seen the deficits already; it won't take them months to notice what's going on and think about making a plan

Reason 2: even in the best case scenario, setting up a plan can take months; waiting until you get there may cost her accommodations for most of that first year in the new place. Standards will be higher in a higher grade; if she needs the accommodations now, she may need them more later.

Reason 3: right now you are remediating like crazy at home; this work is invisible to the school staff. They are likely to believe the problem has miraculously gone away. This will make it harder to get the accommodations later.

Best,
DeeDee

We'll be waiting at least another day to hear or do anything school-wise since schools are still closed due to record low temps. This is the first time I can ever remember schools being closed solely due to temperatures not snow.

Schools were back in session yesterday and I still heard nothing from the other two middle schools so I called them to inquire. School C (the expeditionary learning one) seemed to have some organizational issues going. They didn't know if she got in, said they'd check, and then came back on to tell me that they didn't think they'd looked @ school of choice applications yet and that I'd hear something at a later date.

School A (the high performing one that dd and I both liked) told me that she is in the middle of the waiting list and that they simply don't call you if you don't get in. She wouldn't tell me exactly how long the waiting list was but I got her to narrow it down to fewer than 40 kids so I assume that dd has 15-20 kids on the waiting list ahead of her. She did also say that there were a lot of kids who were offered spots on Monday who didn't call back to accept or deny the positions and that, if most of them didn't take spots, we'd be hearing back from them early next week b/c they'd then have room for dd.

School B gave us a deadline (Wed.) by which we needed to call or lose the spot. School A apparently gave people the same deadline but isn't holding them to it. If they didn't call by Wed, the school is still holding their spots and will be trying to get in touch with them over the next few days to see if they want the spots or not.

For now we've accepted dd12's high school place (which we intend to stick with, of course) and dd10's place at school B. We'll see if we ever hear anything back from school A. If not, we may just need to find a way to make school B work but that is going to involve a sales job to dd on this school.

Also to respond to DeeDee --


The teachers @ her current school seem to be leaning toward believing that dd is "bright" but not seriously able and that any issues she has are b/c we are placing her in too challenging of classes and she'd be fine if we just put her in the slower/non GT classes. That may be true; as I mentioned earlier, she does get easy As in non-accelerated classes, but I don't agree with the assumption that she is just not able enough.

The other thing that has kept me from seriously pursuing a 504 is that I don't know what we could ask for in a 504 that would make a difference for dd. Dd12 was easy when she had a 504 for slower processing speed/dyspraxia and SPD earlier in her school career. We knew what she needed (to be seated away from noisy stuff and possibly to get a little extra time) and it worked beautifully when she got those accommodations. With dd10, I don't know if any accommodations would make a major difference in her performance and anxiety.

We just got word that dd got in to school A as well. I guess that they got ahold of all of the slacker parents who didn't respond to the offers and started working their way down the waiting list.

What a relief! I'm so glad that your dd got into a school that she likes.
Yippee!
Grinity