Hi!

More than a month ago, we were told that our son could not attend his home school because it was filled. We were also told that our district did not grade-skip and would not provide g/t evaluations.
Well, we got the phone call today. He will be starting school next Tuesday, in the FIRST grade at his home school, and is slated for the g/t tests!
To make it even better, the call came from the person who had treated us so horribly at registration, telling us that he knew nothing about the kindergarten screening and that "they" didn't grade-skip. He even told me that the screening evaluators "were just raving about your son".
I was thankful and pleasant, tho there were a few things I really wanted to say. I know that this is only the beginning, but now we know that advocating for our child is what we need and have to do, now and for a long time to come.
Have a wonderful evening!
Aria

Congratulations Aria! How wonderful.

Hooray!

Aria -
How wonderful! I wish you every wonderfulness! I agree with Dottie 100%.
((happy dance))
What do you think you did that helped, or was the school just being reasonable all on it's own?

Trinity

Wonderful!

Congratulations! I hope your littel one will be happy in the first grade!

Hi Trinity!
What did we do? We phoned, snail mailed, and emailed everyone and anyone that we thought might help us, including the mayor, the interim school superindent, the board of ed president, 2 different senators, a local special ed attorney, etc.
The person that i believe made it all happen was the director of the "major achievement program". We spent hours on the phone discussing my son, how we felt about the district's academic performance and their shortcomings with regards to gifted students. I was honest with her and told her all of our horror stories and how we were continually getting conflicting, and even incorrect info from district employees. I did mention FAPE during one of our talks and that really seemed to make her uneasy. So, what worked? Perseverance!
We met his teacher today and he has direct experience with g/t students. I could see him "evaluating" my son, in his head, as he was interacting with his new class.
This is not our optimum situation, but we are miles ahead of where we were a month ago.

Hi Dottie!
We are in Rochester, NY. From what we have found out, g/t falls under the special ed "umbrella", but is the only category that does not have mandated education, programs, and/or services.
Again, if someone out there is more in the know, please correct me.

((ticker tape parade))
Yippee!!
Well done Aria - go put your self in the hall of fame, assuming you feel you are ready for it, I think you are!

Big Smiles,
Trinity