I'm appalled that this one thing he has to do 5 minutes a week is keeping him from doing any other math. He is literally excused from math except for these 5 minutes. The rest of the time it is fully acceptable for him to silent read- 45 minutes a day. Unless something comes up like the division with remainder or other test prep thing, he has no math instruction at school.
I'm unclear on what harm they anticipate if they accelerate your DS even though he can't pass the timed tests as designed. If he's getting NO instruction at all, wouldn't SOME instruction be better? They seem to have acknowledged he needs no instruction at the current level, so why NOT try him a level up and see what happens? Are they saying they worry about him in some way? ...or that he might slow down the kids in the accelerated class? I would be pushing for a trial period of a couple weeks or a month of subject acceleration, and see 1) what the new teacher says, and 2) how he's doing.
Please do let us know how it all turns out. We're with you in spirit!
