Talking to school administration tomorrow, advice?

[EXOLAX]

We have a meeting tomorrow with the administrator/principal of ODD's (8 yo, rising 3rd grade) school.

We scheduled the meeting at the end of last school year at the suggestion of DD's 2nd grade teacher. DD has been bored with math at school since she started there in K. We have supplemented at home and her 1st and 2nd grade teachers also supplemented her on their own but at her request both times. In K and 1st grade she scored at the top of her class but in 2nd she started sliding down. We are not concerned about test results, but we were concerned about the discrepancy in her performance especially since she constantly complained about being bored. We worked with her and her teacher and she improved but then slid back down by the end of the year with her underachievement spilling into other areas. She is a perfectionist, so this came as a bit of a shock to us. She logics it out; "They don't expect me to do any more so why should I" and "They said if I did well on the easy math I could get challenging math but that was review too. Why should I even do the easy math then?".

Our primary focus at this point is to help her deal with the underachievement. DD has never been tested beyond grade level expectations so we don't even know where she is (nor does the school for that matter). DH and I are in agreement that a super easy fix would be for her to get challenging material and we think we need to start there. We are reluctant though in walking in the door with that approach. Our plan is to ask for help with the underachievement and hopefully they will come to the same conclusion we have. She does need to learn to do 'easy work' but last year seemed to be the result of her constantly having to deal with that.

She does not want outside supplementation only. She has basically threatened that if she does not get challenging work in school she will not the easy work. She said "I will do the easy work well if they actually give me some challenging work".

Does anyone have any advice/experience on how to deal with administration in these situations? We have no idea who will be present for the meeting but opened to door to whomever they deemed fit (her teacher, the math specialist, last years teacher, etc.). We are going in saying 'we need help and we hope you have seen this before and have an easy fix". DH is already setup to 'play the heavy' if we need it since I do lots of volunteer work at the school. We are very concerned about being perceived as 'those parents' who make demands but this is our kid begging us to help her get more challenging work at school. We want to ensure they understand this is being driven by her and not us.

We did ask DD to write out some her concerns with math, how she feels about it and what she wants from the school. We thought it might be helpful and were going to take it into the meeting but now I'm not sure. It was insightful though:

"I'm frustrated in school because my math is too easy but I LOVE MATH because you learn and it's fun, hard, and deals with numbers.
In 3rd grade I would like math to be more challenging please. When I'm bored I do Math myself. I do not like boring math, it's so boring I don't do it."

Interestingly enough we have not used the word underachievement or anything with her. We've asked her why she doesn't do the work and she says "It's too boring" or "it's review". She is completely aware of what she is doing so I am hopeful that will help in dealing with the underachievement issues.

Any advice?

[WC_hapamama]

Speaking from personal experience, I think she needs to be told that she needs to do the "boring math" anyway, because there are going to be a lot of things in life that she finds "boring" that she's just going to have to suck up and do anyway. It's not an attitude that is going to fly in high school or college, or in the workplace as an adult. It sucks, but it's life.

I wasn't ahead in math at that age, but I thought that having to do my spelling homework was boring and unchallenging, and when I stopped doing my homework, I ended up getting detention each time I failed to do it... and this was despite still getting perfect scores on my spelling tests.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't push the school to give her more challenging work, but that her current attitude about it isn't a great one to have about schoolwork or work in general.

Oh, and if she attends a public school in CA, be prepared to be told that the GATE enrichment doesn't start until 4th grade.

[Graceoc]

Our DD was having similar issues last year (not in the classroom, but at home during homework time) Although she was only in the first grade, we requested that she be tested with the second graders for the gifted program which starts in third grade. She scored VERY well so we set up meetings with the gifted program director and her teachers. They were VERY open to including her in the testing and wanted to work with us. She was recommended for a grade skip this year. We are hesitant to do that so the school was more then happy to work out something else.

She started this week and will be doing reading, language art and math in a third grade class and the rest of the day with her second grade class. We will see how this goes over the first semester. If we choose to then just bump her up to third grade she will also be able to start the gifted program.

Our school has been amazing through the whole process. They really wanted to work with us to give DD the best opportunity. We never had any issues and they were willing to try new things to help us. This is a public school and so far I am more then thrilled.

I hope you have a good outcome as well.

[GuildJenn]

I think you have a really good handle on a good approach - treating it like a partnership and acknowledging their expertise in different ways to handle the math situation. From there it really depends on the people in the room.

[alegna]

Have you considered asking them to skip her a grade? Or send her to a higher grade for math?

If it was my child, this would not be acceptable. All children deserve to learn a year's worth of material in a year- not waste their time doing work they have already mastered.

-Angela

[EXOLAX]

Thanks for the responses!

Originally Posted by WC_hapamama

I'm not saying that you shouldn't push the school to give her more challenging work, but that her current attitude about it isn't a great one to have about schoolwork or work in general.

We agree, but do we feel like the environment has created the issue, where she went from being a top scoring perfectionist to throwing her hands up in the air and not trying. The underachievement definitely needs to be addressed which is our primary concern but it does go hand in hand with the lack of challenge. We believe (and hopefully will be proven correct) that once she gets challenging material the other issues will go away. She needs to learn the value of hard work, but I don't see that coming for her from doing repetitive material.

Originally Posted by Graceoc

Our school has been amazing through the whole process. They really wanted to work with us to give DD the best opportunity. We never had any issues and they were willing to try new things to help us. This is a public school and so far I am more then thrilled.

I hope you have a good outcome as well.

It's great to hear something so positive. My ears have been battered with stories of struggle over these things so I am a little anxious about approaching it 'just right'. Thanks for sharing!

Originally Posted by GuildJenn

I think you have a really good handle on a good approach - treating it like a partnership and acknowledging their expertise in different ways to handle the math situation. From there it really depends on the people in the room.

Thanks! I think what we have going for us is that we have worked with the teachers and not brought admin in up to this point and have their backing. We scheduled the meeting specifically for this time because it was before we'd know who her teacher was for 3rd grade, so nothing personal there. The only thing we can do in that instance is say "This is what's going on, can you help?".

Originally Posted by alegna

Have you considered asking them to skip her a grade? Or send her to a higher grade for math?

We would not consider a grade skip for her in this school at this time. It's a small school and she has a tight group of very sweet friends whom she would be devastated to leave. Hindsight being 20/20, if a grade skip were to happen in this environment it should have been done when she first started. Dh and I have tried to consider all the possible options the school could give. I think in an ideal world (and in her imagination) she'd stay with her class and work on the same units the kids in her class are doing but a grade or two or whatever ahead. She has said once school starts she doesn't want us supplementing her anymore. She likes the idea of an outside tutor coming in, but really prefers that it be done at school. Subject based acceleration may be in order. We imagine that the school will rightfully say "let's find out where she is" before doing anything else. In the meantime DH plans to ask for once a week individual pullout with any teacher for math.

Originally Posted by alegna

If it was my child, this would not be acceptable. All children deserve to learn a year's worth of material in a year- not waste their time doing work they have already mastered.

Agreed... and I am feeling a little like we've let her down by letting it get to this point. I'm afraid if we don't get a positive response immediately my overall frustrations will boil up to the brim and I will be 'that mom', scrapping all plans for DH to play 'bad cop' while I go into full mama bear transformation.


We're considering bringing in the work she's been doing over the summer. She refuses to finish the EM math review workbook they sent home for the summer and we haven't pushed at all on that. Instead she has picked her own materials that she found challenging.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by EXOLAX

she went from being a top scoring perfectionist to throwing her hands up in the air and not trying.

I don't seeing being a perfectionists as a good thing, so I'm having a hard time understanding the situation.

The underachievement definitely needs to be addressed

Please define "underachievement." Does she do her work that is to be done in class? Does she do her homework? Does she take her test? What is happening?

I understand that you want your child to be challanged at school and to learn, but I'm fuzzy on what you want from her when she alreadys knows the work. I really don't care if my kids get Bs. Primary grades really don't matter.

Does she need to be a "top scoring perfectionists" in order for you to feel she isn't an underachiever?

Is your real concern that she be challanged or just that she make good grades?

[RandiFlowers]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move

I understand that you want your child to be challanged at school and to learn, but I'm fuzzy on what you want from her when she alreadys knows the work. I really don't care if my kids get Bs. Primary grades really don't matter.

Is your real concern that she be challanged or just that she make good grades?

I vote for being properly challenged... and that definitely includes the primary years. The habits she develops in the early years will help or hinder her for all those remaining.

It would be wickedly unfair to force a kid to meander through school, never experiencing appropriate challenges. If she is allowed to coast through her classes, she'll be in for one heck of a shock when high school or college come along.

The brain requires exercise like any muscle -- or bone -- in the body.

Just because some GATE programs don't begin until 4th or later (silly in and of itself) doesn't mean that you have to wait until then to work with the teacher and school to develop an ability-appropriate education for your daughter.

[HipGal]

I wish you the best of luck! I hope the people you are talking to really understand. It might be difficult for the 3rd grade teacher to give her 4th grade Math, because there are a lot of new concepts (decimals, etc.). If you aren't open to her going to another class for Math, do you have some more ideas how things should work? Do you think she can learn independently (by reading about it, etc.) or does she need someone to explain it?

If it is a small school, hopefully they can be more flexible for you.

[eclipse]

Originally Posted by WC_hapamama

Speaking from personal experience, I think she needs to be told that she needs to do the "boring math" anyway, because there are going to be a lot of things in life that she finds "boring" that she's just going to have to suck up and do anyway. It's not an attitude that is going to fly in high school or college, or in the workplace as an adult. It sucks, but it's life.

I disagree. I don't see any reason for her to be required to do work she has already mastered. I would push for evaluation and appropriate placement, regardless of when GATE officially starts. I really wouldn't just hope they offer to do this. I think you should let them make suggestions and consider them, but if you want her doing work at her level without jumping through hoops, you shouldn't leave that meeting without telling them that that's what you want.

[elisheva]

I'm a former teacher and I can attest to the difficulty of trying to challenge everyone in a classroom of 25+. I know 8 is young, but would she ever be willing/able to work independently so she wasn't dependent on a once-a-week pullout or any other instruction? In three different grades/subjects I worked ahead, but I was older - I did a different spelling book in 6th grade, finished the 7th grade math in Nov of that year by working ahead (the teacher encouraged this), and in high school I worked through two years worth of French textbooks in one year.

If she's motivated and can learn independently, it might be worth a try. I haven't seen a math textbook since I taught math over 10 years ago, but I know that many now rely on the teacher to actually teach the material instead of showing step by step examples in the text. If her math text is like this, it might be worth getting something old-school (so-to-speak) for her to work from.

I guess what I'm saying is that you're going to have this battle every year if she's ahead in math (or whatever subject). Might as well have her take charge of her own education instead of expecting all learning to take place in classes. If she can work ahead quietly and go to the teacher (or another designated staff person) if she needs help, I would imagine this would be the easiest solution from everyone's point of view. If I were her teacher I would TOTALLY be on board with this type of solution.

[EXOLAX]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move

I don't seeing being a perfectionists as a good thing, so I'm having a hard time understanding the situation.

Please define "underachievement." Does she do her work that is to be done in class? Does she do her homework? Does she take her test? What is happening?

I understand that you want your child to be challanged at school and to learn, but I'm fuzzy on what you want from her when she alreadys knows the work. I really don't care if my kids get Bs. Primary grades really don't matter.

Does she need to be a "top scoring perfectionists" in order for you to feel she isn't an underachiever?

Is your real concern that she be challanged or just that she make good grades?

We are in agreement on the perfectionism! Dh and I have discussed the possibility that our efforts to help her manage her perfectionism may have also spurred some of the underachievement. I tired to make it clear in my OP that we are not concerned with test results, it was the discrepancy in performance when we looked from one year to the next that setup a red flag.

Trying not to bog everyone down with too much detail but I'll give more information on the math to clarify (there's more but I'm trying to condense). Her school does not give traditional grades. They work on a mastery scale and progress reports are given twice a year which is part of the reason we like this school. I'm not a fan of traditional grades personally, especially for a perfectionist. The school monitors the children's growth in subject areas by ongoing evaluation. I don't believe the ongoing evals were ever discussed at school with the kids, at the younger ages they didn't know they were being eval'd. They were given as in class work assignments just like any other, or they sit 1x1 with the teacher which isn't uncommon. The only reason we know she was 'the top scoring child in her class in math' in 1st grade is because the teacher wrote it in her end of year progress report. On a side note: while we understand she did this to pass information onto the next years teacher we didn't like that it was in there on a few other levels. We didn't feel comfortable showing the progress report to perfectionist DD and we're uncomfortable with the built in comparison. It's a school tool though.

In 2nd grade they added an enrichment pullout for math. If your familiar with it they do EM which has built in end of unit tests. Prior to the start of each unit they would give the kids the end of unit test. Those kids in DD's class who scored 100% on the test went to enrichment 3 days a week. DD wasn't completing the tests in class. She would skip entire sections on it because she didn't want to do them. On her own she went to her teacher and asked for more challenging work and the teacher told her "if you do the easy work well you will get more challenging work" and explained the pre-unit tests. (I was unsure how I felt about this for a number of reasons, up until that point DD just thought that everyone went with the math specialist on occasion.).

DD started to do the work on the pre-tests and went to enrichment. Eventually she stopped doing the tests again because "I love my teacher and I like being in class with her. Going with Mrs. X (for enrichment) was fun but it was all review. Why do the boring work on the tests then?". The tests are only used as a tool to see who has mastery and who needs extra support per each unit. DH and I have a hard time trying to argue with DD's logic. What is the point of her doing the test if she doesn't want the result doing well will give her?

They also hold different kids to different standards (without telling the kids), but we think DD eventually figured this out. While she still performed well she dropped her personal standards. This can be good from a perfectionist standpoint, but we were overall uncomfortable with her general 'eh, I don't even need to try, this is all they really expect' thought process.

She still does very well in school and her progress reports are filled with 'masters'. If it were just about the marks on her report we'd be happy but we'd prefer to see more 'developing skills' then anything else. I have no idea where she stands in comparison to her class though and don't really care. To us it looks like she is feeling a bit defeated and is giving up actually trying. Her internal pendulum has swung from one side to the other. She expects school to teach her, she has said as much and to her if they aren't going to teach her she's not going to really try. She has even said now, "I will agree to do the review work well if they agree to give me more challenging work.". She wants to negotiate her output with their input. Either extreme isn't good, but as a classic underachiever myself I recognize my hyper awareness of the issue.

Our only true concern is that she be challenged. Like I said, we think that will help keep her scales balanced.

I hope that helps clarify.

[EXOLAX]

Originally Posted by RandiFlowers

I vote for being properly challenged... and that definitely includes the primary years. The habits she develops in the early years will help or hinder her for all those remaining.

It would be wickedly unfair to force a kid to meander through school, never experiencing appropriate challenges. If she is allowed to coast through her classes, she'll be in for one heck of a shock when high school or college come along.

This is our thought process and concern as well.

[mom2ponygirl]

A few thoughts: If they allow her to work ahead in a higher grade of math, make absolutely certain that it is documented on paper and the school agrees that she won't have to repeat it later. My friend's daughter had a lovely 4th grade teacher who let the girl work ahead and finish the 5th grade book. She then had a 5th grade teacher who absolutely refused to acknowledge what she had done and made her repeat the exact same book the next year. She decided to hate math after that. Strangely enough she averaged nearly 100% on her math tests the first time through 5th grade math, her grades were significantly lower the second time around.

If they don't accelerate her in math, can you substitute homework? I know a family who would have their daughter replace the homework assigned with the same concept but at a higher level. For example if it was a multiplication worksheet - substitute larger numbers or decimals or fractions, etc.

We have a daughter who is radically accelerated, in math particularly. It seems that there are some logical times to slow down and go deeper and enrich. For her it has worked out to fly through the elementary curriculum (while introducing more advanced topics for fun through books like The Number Devil and Penrose the Mathematical Cat), then pause at about the pre-algebra level for work on problem solving - Zaccaro books like Challenge Math, Creative Problem Solving by Lenchner from www.artofproblemsolving.com. We then proceeded through Algebra and paused again to introduce topics in Discrete Math that are generally skipped in the standard school curriculum (again Art of Problem Solving is the ultimate resource for this!). We are going to continue allowing her to do some courses in school while supplementing with courses from AoPS which will slow her progress some and allow her to go deeper with great challenge. The school courses will give her some in person interaction she craves. We can supplement with breaks from school math to concentrate on problem solving and pre-calculus topics that get shortchanged in secondary math.

Anyway my 10 (nearly 11 year old) just walked into the charter high school for her first day of geometry today (and high school Biology). She also has a group of same-aged friends she needs/wants to stay close to. She splits her time between her age peers and her academic peers. So far it has worked reasonably well. We'll let you know how the grand high school adventure goes. We were both a bit nervous this morning!

I agree with previous posters who say kids deserve to learn every year. Some kids need it nearly as much as air to breathe.

[Lollybrat]

My son is only 5, so I havn'e been where you are, but I can see us having this issue in a few years.

What does the enrichment math consist of? It seems to me that most of the math taught in elementary school is arithmetic. As a result many kids (and teachers and parents) tend to think that math and arithmetic are the same thing, but really there is so much more to math than that. Many people say they don't like math or they think math is boring, when they really mean arithmetic.

So is the enrichment math just more arithmetic or does it branch out into other areas of mathematics? There are so many areas of math that could be presented to keep your child challenged: logic, sets, patterns, game theory, geometry (not high-school geometry, the really interesting stuff), probability, etc. Many of these areas can be introduced to a young child who is bright and interested. Do they do these types of things in enrichment? If not, are they willing to consider them?

[kimiij]

I agree with WC_hapamama. I don't think it's unreasonable of her teacher to expect her to show that she has actually mastered the "easy work" before moving on to more challenging work (if the enrichment class isn't challenging enough, then something else). While you and your DH are working towards getting her more challenging work I think your DD should be expected to do the work that is put in front of her. "Threatening" not to do the work and "negotiating" what work she will do should not be acceptable. I do think the attitude needs to change and you and your husband should confidently relay the idea and expectation that she needs to show the teacher what she can do. This is not an unreasonable expectation.

That said, you and your DH working hard to make sure that she gets challenging work will hopefully result in a complete end to the "easy work."

[RandiFlowers]

Originally Posted by kimiij

I agree with WC_hapamama. I don't think it's unreasonable of her teacher to expect her to show that she has actually mastered the "easy work" before moving on to more challenging work (if the enrichment class isn't challenging enough, then something else).

But this approach can border on punishment for some kids.

Our DS was 6 when he started 3rd. I brought information showing that he'd largely mastered 3rd grade math and was knee-deep (60%) done with 4th. His teacher's solution was to simply give him 4th grade math after he'd demonstrated that he really did know the 3rd grade. So put yourself into the little shoes of a 6yo: "My reward for finishing the 3th gr math is... 4th gr math? WTH?" The school refused to let him test out of the various chapters, saying they were worried about "holes" in his learning. The only "holes" were caused by pencil jabs to the forehead out of frustration!

We took the bull by the horns at one point though in relation to homework. His sheets would have 10-20 of the same type of problem. Our son would need only three problems -- occasionally four -- before a concept "stuck." So I would simply cross out the remaining problems and send it back with a note saying I instructed him not to do any more.

Originally Posted by kimiij

While you and your DH are working towards getting her more challenging work I think your DD should be expected to do the work that is put in front of her.

That's a little unfair when the child has already demonstrated mastery once. Our DS6 rebelled in a variety of ways when he was given work that was no where near challenging for him. This girl needs to be provided with the proper level of work. And if she burns through that too quickly for the teacher, for gosh sakes, let her keep moving forward.

Our school really drug its feet with testing our middle child. And they said that because GT ID was not done until 4th, that there was no reason to test earlier. I about lost my mind! GT doesn't "turn on" at a given time! And meanwhile, our little guy was spinning in circles from boredom. And this can lead easily to behavior problems if not addressed now.

My brother was "diagnosed" by our school psych as having ADD/ADHD and my parents were told that he'd have to take drugs (ritalin?) or leave the school. Thank goodness my parents did not give in. He got tested and proved to be HG/EG. He was properly placed academically and his behavior corrected nearly 100% overnight.

If our son were on the flip side -- finding 3rd grade math to be unbearably & impossibly hard, the school would not hesitate to make adjustments so that he was being appropriately challenged.

OP, the sooner you can get your daughter properly placed (& challenged), the happier everyone involved will be.

[EXOLAX]

Thanks for the replies.

We had a really positive meeting with the head of DD's elementary school. We took the 'asking for help' approach; explained the situation, what we saw/heard from dd, gave her DD's letter, asked for help and advice and let the admin go from there. She listed different options, gave her opinions and we agreed to a plan. I had scheduled the meeting prior to the end of school last year and it was apparent the admin had done her research on our DD. She knew her strengths and weaknesses and I imagined already had the plan in mind before we got there.

By the end of the meeting we were very informal and she talked about how great and refreshing it was, with all of us acting as partners to work toward ensuring DD was challenged in all areas. She brought up how she does get parents in there making demands and how much she enjoyed our approach and how she agreed with us on all areas. After that I was very forward with her about my fears of our intentions being misinterpreted and she said she would stand next to us in any situation and say 'these are great and sincere people' and when I joked about getting a shirt that read "That mom" she said she'd put a circle/slash through it.

Sooo.... in this situation this approach worked.

For those curious the plan is:

Let DD and her new teacher get to know each other the first few weeks of school. Teacher will initially work with DD on perseverance, overall perception of math and teacher recognition of DD's abilities. DH and I found the last one interesting, admin believes DD needs recognition from her teachers of her math skills. Basically they believe DD doesn't think they know how much she knows and she will ensure the teacher makes direct recognition of her skills. She feels DD needs this encouragement (but not praise a la Dweck).

To help her focus and give her challenges they will give her weekly 'do when you want' math logic cards and word problems that they believe will take her time to figure. She will work on these throughout the week and return them to the teacher to discuss, holding her accountable for it. (So far some of her enrichment work has come from her primary teachers giving her things to do for fun which they never expected returned. They feel that she needs more accountability to help with motivation, this goes along with the recognition above as well.)

Math achievement testing to be done over a period of time in mid sept. with the math specialist. They will review the results and come up with a plan. We will meet again end of Sept/early Oct. to discuss where to go from there.

At one point in the conversation she said that they start standardized testing in 3rd grade and that will happen in Feb. and offered that they wait until those results came back to see where to go. This is where Dh stepped in and played 'the heavy'. The above is the plan the admin came up with after that.

[SunshineJ]

Originally Posted by kimiij

I agree with WC_hapamama. I don't think it's unreasonable of her teacher to expect her to show that she has actually mastered the "easy work" before moving on to more challenging work (if the enrichment class isn't challenging enough, then something else). While you and your DH are working towards getting her more challenging work I think your DD should be expected to do the work that is put in front of her. "Threatening" not to do the work and "negotiating" what work she will do should not be acceptable. I do think the attitude needs to change and you and your husband should confidently relay the idea and expectation that she needs to show the teacher what she can do. This is not an unreasonable expectation.

She already did that. She showed the teacher that she was capable of doing the work and was given more review to do. The teacher began negotiations with the child- if you can do this then we'll get you that. Why wouldn't the child then believe that this is the correct way to get things done? I guess my question is, once she has shown she can do the work (maybe a placement test at the start of the year would help here?), WHY on earth should she still be expected and required to keep doing the same stuff over and over? In the real world the only reason she'd do that is because she's being paid for it or because of dire consequences (if you don't wash dishes, you eventually have nothing to eat one type thing). Neither of those apply here.

[kathymuggle]

Originally Posted by kimiij

I agree with WC_hapamama. I don't think it's unreasonable of her teacher to expect her to show that she has actually mastered the "easy work" before moving on to more challenging work (if the enrichment class isn't challenging enough, then something else). While you and your DH are working towards getting her more challenging work I think your DD should be expected to do the work that is put in front of her. "Threatening" not to do the work and "negotiating" what work she will do should not be acceptable. I do think the attitude needs to change and you and your husband should confidently relay the idea and expectation that she needs to show the teacher what she can do. This is not an unreasonable expectation.

That said, you and your DH working hard to make sure that she gets challenging work will hopefully result in a complete end to the "easy work."

I do not think this is unreasonable but the Op and her teachers need to clear on what demonstrates mastery. Schools often like to give numerous problems (say 20 math problems) some kids need that many to practice - and some don't. One who doesn't shouldn't have to do 20 "just because".

Perhaps you could negotiate that if she gets 5 in a row right (althought this may lead to perfectionism issues or she has to do every third question and demonstrate mastery before moving on.

A few other points about advocacy in general:

- remind staff that you are on the same page - you both want the best education for your DD and for your DD to thrive

-bring your partner or other support person (in case things go south, it is really nice to have another person there!)

-ask them about their reservations or obstacles in doing as you request. You need to know the schools issues to counter them or problem solve with them.

-ask for what you want. Ask for an answer in a timely manner - and ask about timelines. Follow up with a nice letter confirming what was discussed.

good luck!

kathy