If you met with a vice president, I would assume that your son is in a private school. If that is the case, they can retain him if they wish.
If you meant vice principal, and he is in public schools, then you should put your food down and get involved in this decision. If he was just not particiapting in class, and has no one else to blame for failing, that is one thing, but this is seldom really the case. Almost all kids with school failure have some kind of underlying issue that can be successfully targeted for intervention, and rarely if ever is the answer another year of what did not work the first time.
You do not mention what the isses are, but I would encourage you to request that he not be retained that that he instead be evaluated to find out why the school failed to teach him last year. Go to www.writghtslaw.com and do some reading about retention, scroll down the left hand side of the home page and read some of the articles that are there. If you have never suspected an issue, do some further reading about high functioning issues, and look at visual processing, as the visual system can become overwhelmed at this age, and this is a frequent cause of midde grade school failure. Obtain educational evaluations that you own yourself, and make sure you never know less about your son than the school does.
Retention is not a good strategy to help kids succeed in school. Schools don't get a second bite at the apple, they need to evaluate and find out why it did not work the first time.
It is my expereince as an edcuational advocate that most kids in this kind of possition will be accused of "being lazy." If this has crossed your mind, or has been used as a reasoning, I urge you to read "The Myth Of Laziness" by Dr. Mel Levine. It is eye opening, and kids in your sons position are usually struggleing more than you realize, and you can help them if you find out what it is.
M.