This year, on the form that came home stating that the reading should be easy, they ("the third grade teachers") also state that parents are not to send books in to school with their children- or substitute books for the ones they send home.
The staff do get to have some control over what comes into their classrooms, but they're loony if they think they have any say whatsoever regarding what happens in your home, and they seem like they might need a reminder. And since the entire reading program is designed to solve a potential problem your DS does not have, I would notify the teachers that your DS will not be participating, and they need not worry about sending any of those books home with him.
And if there's any squawking in response (we didn't get any when we did this), they might need a further reminder of who is ultimately in charge of your DS's education (hint: it's not them).
