'No Perfect Answer:' TCAPS Looks To Split TAG Between East And West Locations

Traverse City Area Public Schools is leaning towards splitting its popular Talented and Gifted (TAG) program on a geographic basis during three years of Central Grade School renovations.

The TAG program is designed to give special instruction to students within a peer group of academically talented learners. About 100 fourth and fifth graders in this program are currently split between four classrooms at Central Grade, which serves as a magnet school for TAG.

With major renovations to Central Grade scheduled to commence before next school year and take three years to complete, the district needs to find a home for these students during construction.

After much discussion, district leaders are leaning towards splitting them between Silver Lake and Eastern elementary schools. The TCAPS board of education has yet to make a formal decision on the matter, but discussed it at length at their meeting last week and generally agreed with Superintendent John VanWagoner’s suggestion that it be handled this way.

Board member Ty Schmidt asked VanWagoner to check in with current TAG families to see their thoughts on the plan before it was finalized.

VanWagoner stressed to The Ticker that even if this split is put in place for next year, it could be amended if necessary.

“Whatever we end up deciding (for 2026-27) is not set in stone,” he says. “If we get through that first year and there’s major struggles, we can always go back to the drawing board.”

The big problem, VanWagoner says, is that no central location has enough unused rooms to accommodate all four TAG classrooms. While there might be enough room at some outlying schools, it doesn’t make sense to force some district kids to travel much farther than others.

TCAPS board members at their recent meeting said they’ve received plenty of calls or emails on this topic, some of it coming from a place of misinformation about the district’s true intent with TAG.

“We’ve ended up with lots of correspondence over the last three or four days trying to figure out if TCAPS still even endorses the TAG program or whether we support it,” board Treasurer Scott Hardy said. “The question we’re having now is simply to talk about where we locate it. It’s frustrating that somehow the rumor mill got started (and) we suddenly need do something to reinforce our support for TAG.”

VanWagoner tells The Ticker that TCAPS does indeed continue to support the TAG program as an important component of other specialized programs within the district. It’s those programs – advanced placement courses, dual enrollment, clubs, activities, etc. – that make TCAPS special, he says.

“Being a large school district has advantages and disadvantages at times, but…one advantage is no doubt the number of choices and opportunities we have in our district,” he says. “And this is a choice and opportunity for parents to get that they just can’t get in a smaller district.”

After Central Grade construction is complete, VanWagoner says, all options are on the table in regards to whether or not TAG is placed back in that building. Depending on how it things go during the interim, it could remain split.

The program, which requires kids to test into it, could also grow and necessitate east-west locations in addition to Central Grade, VanWagoner says. Some board members at their recent meeting said they wouldn’t be surprised if the geographic split ultimately generates more interest in the program.