I only occasionally go to online forums, but I'm so glad that I saw this thread. We have had a very tough time recently, ended up moving our middle schooler to a private school and the improvement is minimal. I see in this thread parents' frustrations that are so similiar to ours and teacher/administrator attitudes (even quotes) that are exactly what we got in our public and private schools. My family has lost confidence in our district completely. It's not that they don't want to accommodate the outliers. This is a district that has lots of gifted kids and a very strong focus on academics. I think the problem is that the schools have a very shallow understanding of the needs of these students and what these students are capable of. Therefore, on the surface, the school offers lots of options, but in essence, these options don't really work.

We have done lots of things on our own to make sure that kids get what they need. It's hard but who will do it if we don't? We are also working with friends to try and build community based programs for these kids. It's hard, too. But it is a small comfort to know that so many parents are going through the same process. The lack of meaningful gifted education (not just "a program" for show) has been for decades----based on the books that I read.