My children attended the Virigina Public School System.  Because we were a military family who has just arrived in the area from South Carolina where we were expose to the Gifted Education Program is the only reason we knew what to seek.  If we had relied on the Virginia Public School System to label our children as gifted, our family would have lost out on those years of advance opportunities.  We went with our children on the first day of school and reviewed their school records with the Viriginia school officials and requested that our children be place in the gifted program.  Eight years later when our son entered elementary school, we had to do the same.  The Virginia school officials does not take the time to even view our minority children's school records to see if they would benefit from the gifted program.  Our children arrived with all A's and documentation that they were previously in the gifted program in another state.  If we were not vocal our minority children would have been purposely left out of this program.  Just imagine what happens to the minority students who parents are not aware that they can have their children tested, records reviewed, etc.  This should not be the case.  It should be the responsibility of the school officials to review records of outstanding performing students for enrollment into the Gifted Education Program.  However, when our children entered in the classroom they were one or one of two students in the Gifted Education classroom.  I wandered how ALL of those majority students knew about the program since they were so highly represented in population in that classroom that day.  Eight years later when my son entered the Gifted Program, once again he was the only minority student in the class.  The Virigina Public School System should be ashamed and held accountable for their actions.  Our minority students are under represented in the VIrginia GIfted Education Program.  Let us as get it rectified!