When Charla Shaner appeared at a recent parent-teacher conference with Zac, she looked immaculate in pressed coral blouse, skirt and smooth blond hair. Few of the teachers realized how much effort went into maintaining that middle-class facade.
Ms. Shaner’s intense focus on her two sons helped steer them into the Topeka public school system’s gifted track, based on their exceptionally high IQ’s in elementary school. She has a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and for some years ran a daycare center out of her house.
