Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments AHHH! gifted director comment..i have to vent!

"Put the bunny back in the box!" LMAO!

I feel for you. I would have had to be pulled bodily off of the person who said that.

We just had the gifted school administrator say almost the same thing. Tell your son to wait. Tell him he has to learn self regulation. Tell him this is all he gets for now. A GIFTED "expert" saying this stuff hurts more than regular administrators or regular people ( or husbands ha ha). BLAH! Nan

The more I think about it, the more I think we parents need to stop trying to engage these people in discussion about why this is wrong, illogical, contrary to the known facts, cruel, etc. That just gives them the opportunity to obfuscate till we're exhausted.

I think we should stop the discussion cold with "That's not your job." My kid needs to learn a work ethic? Not your job. My kid needs to learn to deal with boredom? Not your job. Your job is to teach my child academics, full stop. What are you doing to teach her academics?

I agree with Meg, but that's usually when they counter with the "We teach to the whole child." I haven't figured out what to say next that is going to get the conversation back on track. I'm guessing that answering with, "Oh, I didn't realize my child was broken," is going to work out too well.

Interesting Meg. I'd love to know if anyone has tried this and what resulted from it.

My first thought is to respond with something about religion - so they will object (one would hope!) that they cannot teach anything of a spiritual or religious nature. With that, a parent can say, "right, that's MY job," and then segue to other aspects of "the whole child" that the school is not charged with addressing.

If these are public schools, have you looked into state policies for gifted students? Our school district was just found to be out of compliance with state policy following a complaint filed by a group of district parents. It is hoped that this ruling will have significant implications in our district (although in my experience, the "box" advocates, on an individual basis, have very deeply held beliefs that will not be swayed by this ruling).

If other options have run out, this sort of complaint is a strategy others may want to consider.

#1...katelyn's mom....i get it. most times ds would get out of the box....but there are times that he just spins his wheels doing what everyone else is doing because he doesn't feel like he can or is supposed to say something. he spends enough time "in the box" without really saying anything for himself....but then the school wants to know why he acts out, or dismisses himself to the cubby room to do something else. lol. um...maybe because he doesn't need to write t's! lol.

#2...."We teach to the whole child." yeah....ours says something similar. i'm not sure what that means exactly.....maybe next time i'll ask her to explain that. our school also says that advancement isn't always necessary because they also want to pull a child deeper. as in....even though he is reading at a 4th grade level we are still going to give him kindergarten books with few words to talk about things like plot and setting. um....because 4th grade books don't have those elements? i just feel like they are really great at coming up with excuses as to why they won't differentiate.

and yes....this is a public school. they are out of compliance with his IEP 100%. i don't really know what to do about it.

Momma, first step is probably to report to the principal (in writing, keep a copy) how and why they are out of compliance. If the principal ignores you, there should be a procedure through your state's dept. of ed. for filing a complaint-- just be sure of what is in the law before you write it up.

The Wrightslaw website is good on technicalities, and keyword-searchable...

DeeDee