I think you might be moving into our school district... possibly even school. Does the city you're considering start with a "B" and the school you're considering start with an "S"?
If so, read on.
It is a really awesome school and yes, the principal is wonderful. Really child-focused, person-focused, learning-focused, a great center for the hyper-competitive school district parents.
"But it is apparently easier to break into Fort Knox than get a PG child admitted to a gifted program here, even though I've put an offer on a house and produced for them buckets of test scores."
Yes and no. It's not hard if you're willing to wait. They have so. many. people. advocating for their own children. If they took special requests, they would be dealing with about 10% of the population on a daily basis. So they are hard as rocks in terms of following the process because so many people demand exceptions. This is a high-performance, high-ESL, high-IQ, high-competition area. Your story is not so much the exception as the rule here, so they aren't going to see your daughter as needing special services so much as needing the same services as all the other kids who are bright, have a disadvantage (ESL, ASD, ADHD, etc.) but whose parents are incredibly smart and motivated. This is a district where over 400 people have stayed on a waiting list for three years for a lottery middle-high school experience. Three years at the end of a 400-person waiting list.
Once you enter the school as a regular student, it's quite simple: get recommended for testing (nearly everyone even a bit above grade level is), go to your appointed time hell or high water, and wait for the results, which come after the board meeting, in March.
However, given that you are moving during the summer, I'm sure you've seen this online if we're talking about the same district--they do allow special applications and you can do the COGAT privately.
