Micheala,
We were in a situation in elementary school where the school staff was fighting us on accommodations needed both for our 2e ds and for our dd who needed accommodations for a medical issue. The school staff would sometimes insist that they couldn't do something or that something wasn't their responsibility when we knew that legally it was their responsibility. What I did in those situations (as recommended by our advocate) was to restate exactly what they had said in a summary email that I sent following either the meeting or conversation where it was stated. I sent the email to everyone who had been present when it was stated, and said (very politely) that I was following up to be sure I understood and remembered correctly what had been said. This was a very effective strategy in holding the school accountable for dropping the resistance to doing what was legally correct, because they did not want anything in writing anywhere that looked like they were not following the law. Typically what would happen when I sent the email would be that the email would either be ignored (and the issue dropped), or I'd receive a reply that I had misunderstood what was said and the issue would be clarified correctly. I would suggest doing this for comments such as someone telling you it's not the school's responsibility to keep your child from wandering off school grounds.
If you can, I'd recommend not using the issue of boredom as the reason he wanders or reacts with behavior etc. Can you phrase the cause of the problem behavior as something else? It's just my gut impression that school officials don't see solving boredom as their issue, and I think that's something that you wouldn't have grounds for under the law. Keep the focus on his disability, which should not prevent him access to his public education - that's what's protected by the law.
They are also trying very hard to teach him not to give the square of 2 when asked what 2+2 is.
If you're mentioning this as a general sigh of frustration over having a highly gifted child having to sit through work in class that's too easy, you have my empathy! I get it. If you're mentioning this in the literal sense - that you're frustrated the teacher is requiring him to give an answer to 2+2 and he's answering with the square of 2, then I'd consider that's an appropriate thing to teach - the square of 2 isn't the same thing as 2+2 - even though they happen to be the same number. *If* you're saying that the teacher thinks 4 isn't equal to 4... I'd throw up my hands lol!
Best wishes,
polarbear
ps - the comments about the school not being responsible for your child wandering off really bother me. If a child *did* wander off and was harmed in some way, I suspect the school could be sued. I would imagine the district office would not want the school to think they didn't have a responsibility for keeping all the students at the school safe. Should you send an email questioning this statement, and get a response back that said the school isn't responsible... I'd ask the question at the district level.
