About 50 parents and students from Davidson, Rutherford and Williamson counties attended the first meeting of the Tennessee Initiative for Gifted Education Reform, or TIGER, on Saturday. Their goal is to make sure the state's 18,000 gifted students continue to receive special classes and funding as dictated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

"Special education, to a lot of people, means students with disabilities," said Lynda Van Kuren, spokesman for the Council for Exceptional Children. "It is just as egregious to fail to give a child with gifts and talents an appropriate education as it is a child with disabilities.

"A lot of people think everything comes easy to (gifted students), so why bother? But that is absolutely not true. These children need specialized techniques."

Bills that would have moved gifted students from special education died in the state House this year. But the group, founded by parent Michael Swanson of Franklin, expects similar bills to put gifted education under the regular curriculum will be introduced when the legislature convenes next month.

Swanson says blending gifted students into the regular classroom might not be a bad idea if teachers were trained and money was earmarked for the program. But he believes the problem is in removing protection for gifted students before a new plan is in place - especially during uncertain economic times.

About 30 states include gifted students under the special education umbrella, a status that equates their superior intellectual needs with the needs of students who are disabled or mentally retarded.

Advocates say that's important because without extra care, bright students often mentally check out of school

"They may be there physically, but they are not learning to the best of their potential," Van Kuren said.

The time and cost involved in testing and identifying gifted students is one reason Tennessee is looking at moving them to a regular curriculum. An Individual Education Plan also must be written for each student.

"The concern particularly was with the amount of paperwork involved because if they're under special ed, they would have to go through an IEP just like every special ed student," said Tony Lancaster, executive director of the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents, which supported legislation to shift the gifted students.

While it's unclear whether new legislation will be introduced next year, it is likely, according to Beth O'Shea, coordinator of gifted programs for Nashville schools.

"This concept appears almost every year before the legislature," O'Shea said. "Some years there's a stronger push than others. This year I think it will be stronger because the state is in financial crisis."

But the education department isn't likely to back any bill removing gifted students from the special education umbrella.

"At this point, we do not have an alternative mechanism to make sure that students would continue to receive the level of service they currently receive, nor do we have a way to provide due process to those students," said education spokesman Judith Morgan.

December 17, 2001