Wow! The eve of our enrollment lottery is upon us! And with that milestone it seems an appropriate time to reflect on how far we’ve come!  It’s been a while since I blogged, which can only mean we’ve been busy.  The Board of Directors and Nikki Myers (now our Academy Director- congratulations, Nikki!) have been working tirelessly on all of the “business aspects” of getting us ready for a successful year.  The hiring committee (on which I sit) has interviewed dozens of candidates! The grants committee has done an outstanding job of making sure we’d have the resources we need- and we’ve been awarded extra grant money!  Soon, our new home at Pike Elementary will begin to take shape as “AACL”.  Parents are getting excited, and teachers from far and wide have come to apply for a chance to teach at this remarkable new school.  We are on our way!

As my family entered into this journey, I wondered how many other families and educators “got it”.  Were we alone in our need?  Were there actually teachers out there who understood what we were trying to do? And would they apply to work here?  Others asked the same question, including, understandably, D-11, who so courageously took a chance on our idea.  After talking to parents, meeting kids, watching our enrollment grow by leaps and bounds, and interviewing countless candidates I can now say with joy, with pure astonishment, YES!  They get it!!!  Oh, do they get it! There really are families out there who have similar stories, and there really are teachers out there who have felt our pain, worried over kids like ours, and struggled with the frustration of not being able to teach the way they wanted to be teaching!

I’ve spent the last month or so working on the hiring committee. What began as a blank slate, an idea for a school, and an idea of what our staff should be like, has taken shape into a real location and is now taking shape as a remarkable group of real people.  It has been an honor to work with such hardworking, dedicated, and intelligent people on the committee.  But most importantly it has been a delight to help interview such passionate, creative, outside-the-box-thinking teachers!  I wish I could put in to this small space of words how much these candidates have impressed me!  Their knowledge of their craft, their excitement for the ideas behind this school, the vast array of talents and ideas they bring to the table is inspiring.  It has been a thrill to watch Nikki skillfully and thoughtfully begin to pull these teachers together in to what I believe will be quite simply an outstanding staff!

And so this “idea” is now taking shape.  Tomorrow night our rosters will begin to fill out and soon our staff will be hired.  We will move in to our new home and begin to become AACL. The culture of our school will crystallize as each child, each family, each teacher adds their uniqueness to the school.  I have a feeling this is going to be a vibrant, exciting, warm, collaborative place to work, to learn and to volunteer.  Thanks to all who have contributed to this journey…let the fun continue!

Happy New Year!

2010 begins with a new light of hope for many families in the Pikes Peak area, because a beautiful thing happened in December 2009.  A group of passionate, dedicated parents and teachers fought a seldom-won fight for the needs of gifted, creative and unique learners.  Around this country there is an astonishing number of these kids and their parents crying out for help, for recognition.  A deep need is going unmet in our schools, and slowly districts are beginning to acknowledge this.  Kudos and thanks to District 11 for taking a leadership role in acknowledging these kids who fall through the cracks and their parents who cry for them.  We now have a chance to pick these kids up, dry our tears, and offer these kids the education they need and deserve.

It is also a beautiful thing when children can see their parents advocate for them, see their parents work, sweat, and struggle for them- and win!  Our kids will take away the message that there are good people out there in the world who are willing to listen to you, to help you, to hear you, if you are willing to take the time and the chance to speak up.  Change is almost always hard-won, but with the resolve and commitment of people like these fine folks at AACL, change can, indeed come.

It reminds me of Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who- when we gather together and cry “We are here, we are here, we are here!” someone will finally notice us.  Families around the country take heart, for if enough schools like AACL and others like it form and are successful, we can help bring a higher-quality educational experience to even more kids. For one, if we create successful model schools and programs, the concept will likely spread.  Additionally, schools like AACL can give back to their wider communities by being learning labs, discovering best practices for working with these unique learners, and we can share that information with the regular schools, creating a ripple effect that will help so many, be they in or out of a unique environment like AACL.

So for 2010 there is much work ahead to meet deadlines, make choices, and race to the finish line.  But for many families, it is already a bright and happy New Year, a year of smiles and relief, and gratitude for a chance to make a difference in the lives of kids.

So let’s roll up our sleeves now that the holidays are past us and work hard to bring this beautiful dream to reality.

Many gifted kids are extremely sensitive people. The world of peer pressure and always-changing social situations, coupled with feeling different can leave these bright, sweet kids emotionally exhausted. It’s hard to focus on doing well in school when you’re busy trying just to fit in. These kids need a place to be themselves. As they grow up, they’ll find their way—they’ll choose careers and set up their lives in ways that are user-friendly to their natural needs—but why make them wait to find somewhere to fit in? Why not offer them that opportunity now? Some people just don’t fit in the box. Why force it? Even college offers more freedom and flexibility than a long day in a standard school program.

I am the mom of one of these unique kids. I have a child, now 12 years old, who started reading at 21 months. In kindergarten and preschool, for fun, she did 2^nd grade math problems when she was bored. She had an enormous vocabulary at age three.

My daughter is Twice-exceptional—she is gifted and yet has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder which makes the daily routine of a regular classroom extremely difficult for her to navigate.

She spent three years in public school Early Childhood programs. She had a few wonderful teachers, with no training in her difficulties, and no training in gifted education. They wanted to help, but couldn’t challenge her at all or meaningfully address her issues.

When she entered kindergarten I had high hopes that she would finally fit in. I was wrong. It was a terrible year with no help, no challenges, just my child feeling like a fish out of water. She wanted to talk about world affairs, current events, and science, but the other kids just wanted to be kindergarteners. She had no one to talk to on her level, no peers that said “I get you.” And the teachers had no idea what to do with her, so they just slid her through. Her intellectual strengths countered the OCD enough, and on paper she looked flat. But by third grade my spunky, charismatic child was a depressed, anxious little person with no hope.

Despite nearly straight A’s and a zest for learning she was never admitted to TAG—she didn’t have the right test scores. And by then end of 6^th grade last year she was done. Done with trying to fit in with kids that just don’t get her. Done with teachers who just didn’t have the time to really accommodate her. She felt she was drowning in her efforts to “fit in.” This year she is not in a Pikes Peak area school district. She is enrolled in the Colorado Virtual Academy through Adams-12.

The truth I have finally come to accept is that teachers do not have the time, resources, or even the energy left after all that is already expected of them to address the needs of complex kids like mine.

SO what would an option like AACL have meant for her? It would have meant greater self-esteem, chances to soar academically, more emotional stability, having people and friends to challenge her and inspire her, not keep reinforcing the “you have to change, you don’t fit in” message. This is not a slam on the school districts of the area as they are—just an acknowledgment of a current reality. Until that reality changes someday, somehow, in some future time when we value education enough to fund and staff it like we should, AACL is offering our area a way to address the needs of complex learners like my daughter.

She will be in eighth grade next year, but I will gladly put her in AACL for one year—because that one year could be the anchor, both emotionally and educationally that lets her come to truly feel that there are people in this world who get her, who appreciate her—one year to make her believe that she can find her niche in this world.

And for the record, I have a 4^th grade son who’s a lot like his sister, and he’s hoping for the chance to attend AACL as well.