<p>Just a gentle suggestion of something to think about (and I’m speaking from experience). Sometimes, very smart kids do really well in elementary school with small classes and lots of oversight, and then get blown away in middle school because they are very distractable, disorganized, and have poor organizational and time management skills. Many of these kids have some form of ADD (or ADHD–but they totally many not demonstrate the hyper part) or just executive function problems. Some of these kids do better with some counseling about organization and time management; some do better on medication. I’m not saying that’s what’s going on with your son–but maybe talk to his teachers about it. Those problems are all fixable-- but, if he does have those problems, just switching schools and getting him away from this girl won’t help. I’m just bringing this up because of the timing–smart kids with the in attentive form of ADD or executive function problems don’t get diagnosed earlier because they’re not behavior problems and they’re are smart enough to compensate-- until they get hit with the heavier work load of middle school. That whole thing about not knowing all the homework or forgetting to turn it in-- or not knowing when tests are coming-- sounds VERY familiar. And these kids can end up doing great, including at very academically challenging BS.</p>