You have choices. 1) leave her in that school to slip away. 2) call the superintendent and complain (which might not do any good if other people don't care enough about their children's education to do the same...been there done that) or 3.) either put your child in a private school, or home school that child. Those are your options. If you choose to home school, you have to look up the home schooling laws for your area and depending on where you live, you might have to register with the state. I know that in Indiana, you don't have to register, but it helps if you do because then you get this nifty little school number that you can use to get discounts at various stores where you would get schooling supplies. In Indiana there's no set amount of hours per day that you have to school your child but you do have to school them for 180 days of the year. On the upside of this...you totally set the days. We didn't take a week off for spring break, we didn't take 2 weeks off for Christmas break. We took off Thanksgiving day and Christmas day. We didn't take off for parent teacher conferences or teacher institute days or presidents days. As a result, we got done with our school year a month before the public schools did. If we needed a week day off, we made it up on the weekend or at night. And being that my husband was in the military and getting ready to deploy to Iraq, home schooling that year was a huge help because we had to take a week to go to Georgia to see him off. Had they been in public school that year, they would have missed a whole week of education. Being that they were home schooling, all I had to do is make a packet for each of them to take with, which they worked on in the van on the way there, in the hotel while we were there and in the van on the way back. And to further add to their education, I was able to take them to Tybee Island where they saw jelly fish which we looked up and learned about on the internet, and they got to go to Ft. Polaski museum and study the history of that place. So, not only did they learn the same things that the public school was teaching, but they learned a lot more too. They went back to public school this past year and they tested ahead of their peers.

does any one know of any "good" charter school in scottsdale arizona.

That she'll be in a new school is fresh start- maybe you'll find it to be a better school that the elementary school. You don't say what it is they're not doing - and what is it they claim are her weaknesses?
I'm sure your daughter is bright and even with a faulty education, she should be able to make up a great deal of ground outside of school just by reading. Many children sadly go to weak schools and throughout history many people had to educate themselves - reading fills in Many of the gaps left by weak schools and even by no schooling at all.
Any teacher's bookstore will have mathworks for her - she could work ahead on her own over the summer as well as spend the summer reading. You might find out what textbooks her middle school will use and you can usually get copies of them cheaply on-line and she could read ahead. That would certainly start her off on the right foot in her new school.
Good luck with this.

get a hold of it now, there are options out there. i support the math end as do other programs out there. get tutoring if necessary.

I'm not sure it's useful to tell yourself that your "child's future is slipping away." That implies that her *school* is entirely responsible for shaping her future. Clearly, she has the support of a loving, concerned parent--studies show that's a far greater determining factor than a particular school.

Also, when your daughter transitions to middle school, you'll both have a "fresh start"--new school, new principals, new teachers. She might also have new/different opportunities. The middle school where I taught had pre-AP classes with open enrollment--this meant that students could receive a more rigorous course of study simply based on their motivation/performance.

I think what's most important for you to show your daughter is that "education" isn't limited to the classroom. Continue to advocate to have her needs met, but also encourage her to be an independent learner.

1PAmom: have you had your daughter evaluated for learning disabilities? If not, please consider this. Your description sounds very much like a parent who is very worried about her child's needs not being met.

The fact is that mom's who worry about this are often correct -- very bright children can have subtle learning problems that make secondary school an even greater challenge. These kids are often referred to as "twice-exceptional."

I had a bad experience in a private, Christian middle
school. The teachers/administrators will not
admit or address any issues and it's all taken out
on our child. He was given 4 fs on his final
term. I do not know what is happening but they
are losing most of their middle school boys.
I'm not sure what we are going to do; I may have to
homeschool him for gr 8 until I can figure out what
to do. I would say you are in a dysfunctional unhealthy environs. Can you pick a different school
in that area? Try to get more parental feedback about the schools in that area.

First and foremost, this is a public school, for which your tax dollars pay the salaries of the teachers and principal.

Second they have no right to exclude you from participating at school in your child's education.

Third, this probably violates policies regarding parent participation.


I second Star's comment and would like to add in lieu of filing a complaint do what I did and get a written permission slip to visit your child's classes whenever you like from the main district office (from one of the district administrators or superintendent). That is what I did when my son's high school principal said that it would violate a child privacy law for me to be in the class, which I Knew was BS.

OMG..... I can't believe you were asked to leave assuming you weren't disruptive. Call the superintendent ASAP and make a formal complaint. Write an article to your local paper. Make others aware of the problem. You have every right to be your childs advocate. Don't give up hope.