Should we follow a Teacher? - Gifted Issues Discussion Forum

hello to all,
Just in concise our background.........
My DS8, was advocated by his Kinderg Teacher to test him for Gifted(we tght he was just smart).Got tested, enrolled him in a self contained prgm , started with K-1 combo, no teacher 1st day, the year and exp was not good. Switched this year to a new Charter school(2nd yr for the school), the have Gifted prm(GATE), amazing teacher. his homerm teacher is excellent too! They has math olypiads, Odessey of Mind, she never stops any Child. DS8 is in 2 nd grade, finishing 5th grade Math end of this school Year( started Jan 10 ).
Now, due to not so gr8 relations with the School, The Gifted Teacher is moving to a diff school(30mim drive), Brand new start up(she is the 1 to start it this Fall), The principal has no idea about GT kids , has no bldg , no set up , nothing.
here comes the Qs... Finally....
She wants us to follow her to that school( we have 40% gifted kids in our current school).
My qs is Should we follow her? What guarantee that they will give her everything she needs(she herself has 2 highly profound kids, 1st grdrs)What if they are not on best of terms in 2 yrs, she is ready to home school her kids. what happens to us?
I know so many of you had many such obstacles , Please share ur wisdom? I am so confused.
MyDS8 loves is current school, we like it but his friends might leave. no one is certain........
Thanks to all of you for ur advice, help..........

(Sorry got longer then expected)

Wow, that is a really tough decision!

Honestly, how can she ask everyone to "follow her?" Is she is some kind of power struggle with the administration?

That is putting a huge amount of pressure on all of those families... I would question that, personally.

Can you meet with the administrator?

TBH, given that you're currently happy with the school your DS is in, I don't quite see what's in it for you to follow this teacher. It sounds as though she's a good teacher, but it takes more than that to build a good school. Moreover, the fact that she's had some conflict at her current school has to raise a red flag that she may be more likely than the average teacher to have conflict at her new school too (possible for understandable reasons, but as you say, you have to consider the stability of the new situation you'd be moving to).

I think what I'd want to do would be
(a) to talk to someone senior at your current school about what this teacher does that is so fantastic and how you really hope those fantastic things will continue even though she's left, and how it was a difficult decision for you not to follow her;
(b) to explain to her that although you wish her well, you aren't willing to uproot your child from a good situation; but that you'd like to keep in touch and hear how the new school is going, in case you might want to move your child later.

Great advice!

Also....get into the classroom and observe the teachers your children would get next year. Watching the teachers in action is the best crystal ball. Look around the room. Are ther any hard books on the library shelf? Are any kids dooing advanced workM
love and more lv grinity

Having done a start up charter in the past, I have to admit that I am once burned, twice shy. I would be leery of how well this new school will operate with all that is still up in the air. I'd be inclined to stay where you are if the teacher for next year looks reasonably good.

Thanks to all for the words of Wisdom.
The Gt teacher has issues with the current Admin. This is the vibe we are getting from the current Principle-
No changes will happen. Gate Continues. the are looking at new Hires.Man Gt parents are apprenhensive to leave .
The new school is a charter school. Currently the have onl upto 2-3rd grade. No GT. No classroom to observe! Nothing. 3 more teachers from our current school are following teh GT teacher b'cos ........ they sa they r not happy Financialy here!
As far as the GT teacher, she is amazing, no doubts. she really has passion for the GT Kids , understanding for kids as she herself is GT and had manyy problems growing up.
But, I have a 2nd kid whose school is where we are. Doesn't seem fair for the other kid.
So we are thinking to stay here next year, keep an eye on the new school and if the project takes off then we can go next year.
Thanks to all for all the good advice. let me know if you think we are on the right path.

I'd say you're making a good decision - stay where you are, see if the good situation stays good, think about a move later if you think your son would be more successful over there. I'm sure you don't need reminding, though, that a teacher who understands and knows how to work well with a gifted child is almost impossible to find...unfortunately you may lose more than you expect when this GT teacher moves on.

Zhian,
We know we will miss her lot. But we not ready to be guinea pigs for this year. the principal has assured us that they already looking for replacement and will continue the GATE prgm.Also there is always next year , if the new Project takes off. Thanks so much for all the advice.

Our family has recently recently been "a guinea pig in a new program".
Our county started a new gifted middle school this year-- we were reluctant to sign on because so much was still undecided as of last spring, and ds ultimately went for a different magnet program (not specifically gifted) with a proven track record. His best friends went for the gifted magnet, and after six weeks of hearing how cool it was, ds transferred.
Yeah, well...we've since pulled him out again (as have at least seven other families out of eighty). The disorganization is not so apparent on the surface, but it's there. Things that were promised (Chinese or Japanese for the foreign language) are not followed through; favoritism toward the small core of families who belong to a specific gifted parents' group is rampant.
Not to say that all start-ups are like this. But an awful lot of them seem to be.

Hi eldertree,
Thats exactly the case for us. We have a few families who are the inner grp kind. also, the principle has no idea about gifted.There are afew other things, compulsory Violin from 4th grade for all kids, take it or leave it attitude. All this stops us from taking the chance this year. Your exp with the new start up school helps me know that we are on right track for this year.

We had the opportunity to be a part of a start-up program as well. On the surface, it seemed amazing and perfect for our son. We were concerned because of the newness of it all, and there were a lot of details still up in the air. The program needed at least 5 families, preferably 8-10, to start the program. We had about 7 families who were on board and "very seriously committed" to the program. Ultimately we chose to stay at the Montessori school our son was attending as things were going really well and we were reluctant to put him through another change (he'd just started there). Long story short...all but two families (one being the director's child) pulled out at the last minute. We definitely made the right decision. We finally just decided that our son wasn't going to be the guinea pig, and if all went well this year, we'd consider the switch. It never even got off the ground. I think you're making the right decision. It will be good to be able to make a more informed decision once the program has been in effect for a year. That said, we were VERY tempted, so I understand why you are torn.

JENSP,
I agree with you. Also just heard that the Gifted Teacher's attitude is in the wrong direction towards the present school, which makes me feel like we are PAWNS in her game of politics/ revenge.And Its VERY TEMPTING, when we hear the plans , and all. But for now, We are going to sit and watch what happens. Maybe Next Year..........