Good point that it may be to make sure we are on board. I know the teacher approached the principal before we sent the emails, so it may be that the principal is not sure we are really into this, or, alternately, she just wants to get a sense of us as people.
I definitely plan to talk up the teacher (100% genuine!)
Ex: Here's a writing sample done on his own -- where would this place him relative to the first graders he'd be joining? What would be the plans going forward into next year if this is the arrangement, specifically, how will his needs be met in a 1st grade classroom next year after spending half a year in this arrangement?
He has a writing journal he works on in the classroom. Hopefully his teacher will bring this, or has shown it to the principal; she told me she has shown it to a lot of people. I'm certainly concerned about your second question. His teacher suggested that he should be skipped, but that this is not politically possible. We are not currently really in favor of this, so don't plan to bring it up, but it's probably a good idea to diplomatically bring forward the issue of next year.
