District took 15 months to evaluate my child for gifted. Is it okay for districts to do this?
Is it normal for states to not have a protocol in place for administering gifted evaluations?
My oldest child’s teacher highly recommended and pushed for us to have evaluations done. She completed the SAT folder and we signed a request to test the end of May 2024. The district never contacted me. I called them in February 2025 and they told me they were really backed up and it was first come first served, even with the SPED students.
In June of 2025 (15 months later) we were finally scheduled for testing. I was asked to sign the consent to test when I arrived at the district the day of the evaluation.
I contacted our state department only to be told the protocols for evaluations don't apply to gifted. The guy in charge of gifted for the state said he'd look into it and never responded again.
Fast forward to now, and I have another child needing gifted evaluations. The district called me to say they didn't have a timeframe and they hoped it didn't take as long as last time. 🙄
I've been calling and emailing several employees at the state level trying to get an answer about what holds the districts accountable. The SPED liason finally said there is no mandate from the federal or state level, so that means they leave it up to the district. We'll, my district doesn't have a set time allotted either.
The packet I received from our district for our rights said they should immediately seek consent after giving prior written notice, and then they have 60 days to complete evaluations. Today I was told that doesn't apply to gifted. (So why did they bother giving it to me?)
Basically, there is nothing at the state or district level to hold them accountable to giving gifted evaluations in a timely manner. I was told today they were going to put they have until October 6th on my child's paperwork as if they were doing me a favor by giving me this date.
Anyway, is this normal? Am I fighting for something that doesn't exist? It just feels egregious to have any type of students waiting 15 months for evaluations. They don't seem to think there is an issue.