Frequently Asked Questions
(Read Where Shall I send my
gifted child to school?)
1. How many students go to school at Lee Academy?
The average student population ranges from 90 to 100 students.
2. How long has Lee Academy been in operation?
Lee Academy was started in 1982.
3. What is the average ratio of students to teachers?
Depending on the class group, the ratio is usually 1 to 8.
4. Does Lee Academy have extended care?
Arrangements can be made to have after school and before school supervision from 7:30 to 5:30.
5. What are the school hours?
School starts at 8:30 A.M. and ends at 2:45 P.M.
6. Does Lee Academy require an IQ test for new students?
No, each teacher evaluates the student
during their visit and those observations are used to
determine admittance.
FAQs ON GIFTED AND TALENTED ISSUES
(Read Common Gifted Education Myths and Truths)
1. What happens if gifted children don't get appropriate education?
Gifted children are at-risk for boredom, frustration, underachievement, dropping out, using drugs and, in the more extreme cases, turning to delinquency and even committing suicide. Boredom and frustration in regular classrooms drive gifted children out of schools at a rate three to five times higher than the rest of the school population. In fact, studies in Iowa and Pennsylvania indicate that gifted and talented children may account for 20 percent of all high school dropouts. Those who stay in classes that do not challenge them may develop emotional problems, become juvenile delinquents or simply sink to the level of average classmates and never reach their full potential. The characteristics displayed by many gifted children - high activity level, divergent thinking, daydreaming and continuous questioning - are sometimes misinterpreted as indicators of an emotional disturbance or learning disability. At the very least, teachers who are not used to dealing with students that learn quickly, have long attention spans, are creative and want to explore subjects in great depth, consider these children's behaviors and attitudes as abnormal and an irritation.
The small amount of work - often mundane, repetitious work - that gifted students are asked to do in school, they can achieve quickly and with little effort. They rarely have to face difficult problems and often do not know how to cope when, at some later educational level, they meet a challenging and intractable problem that does not easily yield to a facile but undisciplined mind.
2.Isn't special provision for gifted students elitist?
"There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people" Thomas Jefferson. No, it is not elitist. Special provisions for children with mental or physical disabilities are not considered elitist. Special provisions for students with outstanding athletic abilities (i.e., the football team) is not considered elitist. Why should special provisions for children with outstanding mental abilities be elitist? It is really a question of equal opportunity, which means an opportunity for each person to rise to those heights to which his own motivation, energy and ability take him/her. To recognize the exceptionally fine mind and/or discover a brilliant talent and not provide for their development is wasteful as well as a deprivation of equal opportunity.