Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's the school's decision. In the end, it's entirely up to them whether or not to offer a renewal contract and where your child is placed grade-wise. Of course, you can refuse to accept the placement if offered.

If they are still just "recommending" and you like the school, collaborating on this with them may be the best approach. If you disagree with what they are proposing, you might want to hire and outside professional to assess your child and observe the classes at school.

PP again. We had a psychologist observe for us a few times. At one school, her feedback was instrumental in our removing our child from the program that afternoon (private pre-k that ended up being terrible, despite the elementary program being ok). Another time her feedback helped us understand that the teacher was just too inexperienced to be able to implement any of the supports the school had agreed to so our best bet was to either leave or "white knuckle it" to the next year, where the teacher was quite good. Another time she confirmed for all of us that the foreign language requirement should just be waived. Never regretted getting an outside opinion, even when her opinion was inconvenient. Private schools sometimes don't know as much as they think they do.

I've seen outside opinions come from experienced, thoughtful observers. I've also seen outside opinions come from "experts" with very little education experience, who tend to tell parents what they want to hear. Unfortunately, I've seen considerably more of the 2nd type. As for "private schools sometimes don't know as much as they think they do"... I don't even know what to make of that statement. Educators are in the business of education, whether it is a public or a private setting. Most tend to know what they need to know.

OP, the school ultimately has the final say. You have power in that you can switch schools if you disagree.