Well, I think I got what I expected from my meeting with our school principal/superintendent. It pushed me more toward the decision of moving to another district.
I went down my list of concerns for dd. He had spoken to the teacher and got the impression that dd wasn't interested in doing work at school. The teacher says she'd rather do it at home, that she'd rather not be seen as different to the other kids in class. In response to my concerns he insists the teachers are differentiating and giving enrichment. They've had workshops on it. I got examples of previous students who did very well, went on to Duke, Brown, etc. I was told repeatedly that my daughter will do fine in the school. I was told that the kids often level out after 3rd grade, but that it may not the case w/ my dd. He repeated that social problems are really a difficult part of this school. It has a good share of low income and even a couple of homeless kids.
Also, on that very day, they sent out letters about the gifted program (once a week pullout beginning in 3rd grade), and the advanced math class for grades 5-8, being canceled for next year. These are victims of the state of NJ drastically cutting funding to schools. Our town then decided to cut a big percentage from the budget also, to reduce a new tax levy.
The answer was a big 'NO' on giving my daughter the WISC. He couldn't understand why I would want the test. Since my dd8 just took the Terra Nova test, he assures me that it will give us her level in 5 different subjects.
Is the Terra Nova a useful test? I don't see it mentioned much on this forum.
I did get across that my dd's education is suffering. And I did get some sympathy. I think the principal/superintendent is stretched so thinly that his approach is that gifted kids will just take care of themselves. He must know that our current teacher is bad. I'm in anguish about the unknown quality of next year's teacher. I asked him to choose the best teacher, and suggested that he 'stack' the class as Grinity suggested. He didn't say no...
If I stay at this school it's going to take so much effort on my part.
This advocating was such a difficult thing for me to do, but was a HUGE learning experience. Too bad I may be up against a brick wall here. I am now writing a follow up letter to the principal summing up my concerns just to get it in writing.
Thanks for the support here. Whew!
