TAG'd. Forgive me if this has been beaten to death.

[Anonymous]

Hi all.

My son was TAG'd in PG County, MD. Options include in-school enrichment or gifted magnet programs. I've yet to thoroughly investigate. I'm willing to be swayed, but for a host of reasons that include social aspects and logistics, I'm not inclined to move him to a different school. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

in-school enrichment varies tremendously school by school. Some schools and teachers do a fantastic job, others do very little.
magnet schools also vary tremendously.

Are you familiar with the yahoo group, pgtag? If you join you can ask specific questions of parents who have kids in both programs.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pgtag

One thing to consider is what do most of the TAG identified kids in your school do? If most of them leave, your child may stick out more. If more of them stay, that's a good sign that the in-school enrichment TAG preogram and school is working well.

[Anonymous]

How is he doing socially right now? Does he have tons of friends he would be sad to leave? Or does he feel "different" from the kids around him?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback and the link, guys. It's very helpful food for thought.

Right now he has good friends and likes school, and I think he'd be bummed to get pulled out. But, he also feels "different" and sometimes gets teased by the older kids. But then again, so does everybody. So far he's taking the teasing in stride and handling it pretty well, and the school does a really good job of emphasizing community and treating each other respectfully.

[Anonymous]

could someone please explain the term TAG'd?

[Anonymous]

talented and gifted, also called G/T in some areas.

[Anonymous]

OP - don't know if you have heard, but there are plans afoot in PG County to move two of the TAG programs to different schools and close one o fthe schools completely.

parents at the affected schoosls (Glenarden Woods and Oakcrest) are understandably upset about this, as they would be leaving great principals and programs for an unknown, and as children would be traveling much farther.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/01/23/ST2009012300740.html

The pgtag group is holding a meeting to discuss this proposal their response to it:

Wednesday January 28th at 7 PM at Glenarden Woods Elementary School

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the heads-up! I've yet to receive approval to join the Yahoo group. :p

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the heads-up! I've yet to receive approval to join the Yahoo group. :p

OP - I hope you are soon approved. Meanwhile, the meeting has been postponed till tomorrow, (Thursday) same place and time.