7-6. PLACEMENT IN THE GIFTED PROGRAM? (ISLLC STANDARD 3) You are a new principal of an elementary school, and your year has been going quite well. The faculty, students, and parents all like you and your leadership style. Unfortunately, one of the board members, Arlene McDougal, has been making negative comments about your school. She doesn’t like the traffic congestion at dismissal time, and she keeps bringing that up at board meetings. You are aware of the traffic problem and have been working with the police department to come up with a solution. Unfortunately, the layout of the streets prevents any radical changes. The police agree that the current traffic plan is the best that anyone can do. The traffic problems are short-lived, and the neighbors know to avoid the school at dismissal time. Even though you have explained this to the board of education, Arlene continues to make negative comments at the board meetings. At a recent meeting, when Arlene started to complain about the traffic problems at your school and that you’re doing nothing to solve them, she even suggested that perhaps the board has hired the wrong principal if you can’t solve problems like this. At this point, another board member, Bob Murphy, spoke in your defense. His comments quieted Arlene, as other board members agreed with him. The next morning you sent an e-mail to Bob thanking him for his support. Later that day, your gifted education teacher comes to you with a problem. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Murphy requested that their son be considered for the fifth-grade gifted program. The criteria for admission to the program include standardized test scores, teacher recommendation, parental recommendation, and straight A’s in all subjects. The Murphy child met all the criteria except the standardized test scores. The minimum is the 90th percentile, and young Murphy scored in the 85th percentile. The teacher explains that because he is the son of a board member, she thought it wise to bring this to your attention. There are 20 students who met the criteria and the gifted class size limit is 20. To complicate matters, there are five other students who scored at the 85th percentile. If you make an exception for young Murphy, you’d have to make an exception for five other children, thereby raising the gifted class size to 26. Obviously, this is way beyond the limit for the gifted class, but not enough to run two gifted classes. If it were anyone else, you could explain that the child didn’t meet the criteria, but knowing that Bob Murphy has supported you complicates matters. If it weren’t for Bob, you could be looking for a new job. In the past, the superintendent had been the victim of Arlene’s verbal attacks, and now he is reluctant to challenge her. He obviously is afraid of her ability to influence the other board members, and he is not going to put his job on the line to protect yours. You are not sure how Bob will handle the news that his son did not qualify for the gifted program. What should you do? Develop a bulleted action plan aligned with ISLLC Standard 3: An education leader promotes the success of every student by ensuring management of the organization, operation, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.