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Just a follow up post on my meetings this morning. I first met with the K-school principal to give her a copy of our psychology's report and to submit a letter requesting early admission to first grade. (It's not been done in our district ... at least not recently, if ever).

I then had a meeting with the director of pupil services (basically the person that manages the GT process) where we reviewed the report and we submitted additional portfolio work in support of the request for evaluation and to also inform her that we're requesting entry into first grade.

It went very well!

The K-school principal was disappointed insofar as she was looking forward to having DS as a student and had already picked out a teacher. The director let us know that basically the request for early admission goes through her and that today she'll write up the letter in support of admission into first. It has to go up to the board level, but the impression that I had is that they take her recommendation. She herself said DS "would be bored out of his mind in Kindergarten". We provided a copy of the report ahead of time and I know she read it because she had highlighted several areas. (She said it was a very good report, which is good.)

We won't have to take another IQ test. Instead the school's psychologist will just write his report referring to our current report. So that's good. We won't shorten the time the process takes, but that is probably okay as DS gets adjusted to school for that first month.

So overall, it was a very positive experience. We should get the "official" notification before the 26th.

JB

Great meeting. What a positive meeting.

I am sitting her a little bit envious. My first discussion with our Vice Principal went that way but as soon as she tried to to go up the chain we were shot down. No early entry, no K grade skipping, no exceptions. Does your district already have a policy and procedure in place?

Yes. In fact the K principal had to go find the policy because it's not been done before...

I think by PA law they have to have a policy, but they don't stipulate what the policy has to be.

One thing that really seemed to help is having lots of documentation, including a psychologist's report. This follow up meeting, with this documentation went very smoothly.

JB

Oh I don't even want to go back to work!

And yes, MAKING the decision was the hardest part. After we made the decision, everything else was very easy in comparison.

I like our director of pupil services. She's been very helpful.

We're very excited for DS! (He will be too as he keeps asking about it!)

JB

What a great start to a school career! Congratulations! I hope it's a good fit for him.

WOW impressed! So in your portfolio you had IQ testing and achievement testing as well, correct?

Yes. SB5 and partial WIAT-II scores. We had to pay for it (it was expensive) but I don't think we would have been able to get support for early entry without it. But, we had planned on getting him tested anyways because we wanted to know where on the spectrum he is.

So I brought

• cover letter
• copy of pysch report which included written opinion, SB5, WIAT-II and a few other tests like for motor skills, etc. Very thorough.
• sample portfolio of past work (mostly advanced math)
• copies of several research papers about acceleration. I did not need them, but I brought them just in case.

I had two different meetings, but that was basically what I prepared.

Part of what helped us, I think, is that we did go into the first meeting back in the beginning of the summer saying "we're not sure which direction we'd like to go" (skipping K or not). And we met with a lot of people. Again, that doesn't work for everyone. A lot of times it sounds like going into the meeting knowing exactly what you want done with your child works best.

As I told them, if we'd know this a year ago we would have asked to start K early. It is actually a very good K program.

JB

Wow. That sounds like an awesome meeting. Congratulations! I hope it won't get killed the way Crisc mentioned. You got a great support and it looks like your son is on his way to the 1st grade. Will this be in place before the school year starts? Paying for the report sure paid off.

We paid for ours and it was worth every penny, but mostly as an eye opener for us and getting to Davidson. As for school one of the teachers finally stopped saying that DS5 was learning because of me and the other moved him much faster through the math curriculum. The director still didn't get it. As far as she was concerned they taught all the kids on their own level anyway and they would always be able to meet his needs. DS5 was in Montessori last year.

Congrats JB dad!! You did good! Can't wait to hear how DS likes first grade!

Yipee!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks everyone. We're very happy & excited. One year at a time There is still more to go with getting the GIEP in place, but we (us and the Director of Pupil Services) do not see any issues. It's just a matter of waiting our turn as there is already a queue of requests. Even without the GIEP in place she's going to reach out to the GT teacher.

I'm really happy with how the meeting turned out. The Director was pointing out areas that might be issues (i.e. handwriting) and then suggesting solutions or assurances. She did this not once, but several times.

We're very fortunate. Down the road, same state, different district, it's a completely different story.

JB