Yay - I'm glad you have a follow-up scheduled, and glad your dh will be able to come (if for no other reason than that he will at least get to see what you have to put up with at school meetings!)
I have thought more about the GT teacher's comment that "DS knows when DS says he's bored everyone jumps." And, in addition to all that you have said on the matter, the fundamental problem I realize that I have with her statement is the light in which she seems to view my son. To me this sounds like she sees him as manipulative as someone who complains that he is bored and unhappy at school just to see adults "jump" for him.
I feel confident you already have a good handle on how to address this if it comes up at the meeting, but fwiw - think that given this teacher's attitude, you just have to ignore her comments and keep the meeting focused on the issues. If she makes a comment like this again, ignore and repeat whatever concern/solution etc is being discussed at the time. If (and I doubt this would happen... but just in case "if"....) another team member chimes in and either agrees or asks about the comment, thenI might consider a tactic where you say "If it is an issue that ds speaks up when he is bored, let's add this to the agenda to discuss as a separate item after we've gone through the rest of our agenda items, but let's keep on track for now". You could also turn it around on her and say "I'm glad ds is advocating for himself by letting you know when he's bored."
First of all, he has never actually said that he is bored to her.. he has said it to me about certain subjects, in particular math. He has said he hates math class even though he loves math because it is so boring and I believe him! The work is well below him...
Do you have some work examples from home that show the level he's capable of working at? Lists of books he reads at home etc? You might not need them for the meeting, but I found it was helpful to have those types of examples on hand in case things like this did come up in discussion. If the teacher complains that he says he's bored, whip out an example of what type of work is coming home from school, and an example of the type of work he's doing at home. Show the rest of the team that he *is* bored
He also has said it in the past about the books available because the books are boring, below his level and not of his interest. And I have gone to the school about these issues in an attempt to remedy them and I rarely get anywhere except for lately and still I HAD to buy books and give them to the school for him to have some books on his level.
This is straying a bit OT here, but I'm just curious - couldn't they let your ds choose books from the school library that are higher level than what's available in his classroom? I know some schools get really picky about separating out which books kids can read depending on grade level, but this is something I think is worth bringing up in your meeting. There are most likely other kids at the school who are stuck with not much of a reading selection if the books children are able to select are so tightly controlled. I'm about to ramble here so forgive me, but I wonder if there's a chance here that if you asked if there are other children in the classroom or grade near ds' reading level if the school could possibly pull together a set of books that is higher level for them to choose from, or make an exception that allows them to choose higher-grade-level books from the library. Just wondering if this might be an area that you could work through finding a group of kids who would benefit so it's not all about your ds. And if it falls flat with the principal, would your school's parent organization be interested in tackling the issue?
MY son said to me a few weeks ago the following:
"Kristopher says that he loves school. I am jealous of that. Why does he love school and not find it boring like I do? Why is he having fun? What am I missing? I want to like school, I have to go there everyday... I am so jealous that everyone else seems to think it is fun and I am not enjoying it. I can't figure out what I am missing." It was really kind of sad. He's not lying when he says he is bored, he really is bored. It is not the entire problem but it is or has been part of the problem.
I would leave other children's names out of it, I'd leave my emotional response out of it, and I wouldn't bring it up first thing, but if your meeting isn't going well, I'd tell them exactly what your ds has said about being bored at school. It may not be a valid reason (in the eyes of the school staff) to make a change, but it's evidence that the current situation isn't a good academic fit. If it was the *only* evidence you had of that, it most likely would sound to the staff like a parent wanting special treatment for her ds - but the thing is, you have a preponderance of *other* evidence. So let the school know he's bored!
Sending you good wishes for your meeting - let us know how it goes!
polarbear
