it seems our district is making this change suddenly as well; however the district has never tested a child who met the criteria they had used up to this point. DS met those criteria, but a year too late, I guess.
We do plan to look at other private schools. There are a few gifted magnet schools in our area, but they are an hour drive away, which just isn't feasible for us. Perhaps in a few years he could take a cab to and from school, but until then, we'll have to work closer to home! DH is going to talk with the principal at another area Catholic school. It would be a 20 minute drive, but we could make that work.
As for what they will do with him in the future, I intend to sit down with both the public school and the Catholic school in town to determine that. Several parents in our parish have said that their children are gifted and are doing well in the parish school, but I obviously have no idea how their children compare to mine, and haven't talked much with them about what is being done to accommodate their needs. (Many of these conversations have been geared towards convincing me my child should not be in kindergarten this fall.) I'm going to bring this up with this preschool teacher as a prelude to a conversation with the principal and hopefully at least one elementary teacher to get an idea of how they handle gifted children. I will also be talking with the school psychologist in the district, and DS is going in for preschool screening, so I'll chat with whomever does that as well. (We may be sending him to preschool in the district this fall, if we can't get him into kindergarten, just to gain as much information as we can.)
