My response would begin with a question: Why do we have to keep gifted children in under-stimulating environments all day, then finally get around to offering them what they need on their own time? Don't the students deserve better?
I like Dude's question - but otoh, suspect the principal would respond by noting that in an ideal world the school would like to meet the individual needs of all the children during the school day (not just the gifted kids).
One thing that I thought about is RTI - do you have RTI across the board (in theory) in your school district? RTI is being implemented that way in our district, and in addition to catching at-risk kids prior to them needing SPED, it's supposed to (totally in theory lol!) be used to differentiate for higher ability too. So if RTI is *supposed* to be taking place across the board where you're at, that's another angle to argue for services during the school day - because it's basically saying that instruction needs to be differentiated, and it's something your school district is (in theory) supporting with time/$ already.
polarbear
