Trying to get along with any of the officials or teachers is viewed as weakness to be exploited. All your kid means to public schooling is a source of money, vouchers might fix some problems, but not many.
Government schooling seeks to put parents and children at odds so both can be controlled by playing them against each other. Hollywood and "musicians" do the same.
I took a little different approach when my son was going thru local public school, which I’d always considered better than most anyway. I “rode herd” on the teachers, the admins, the school board all the years he was in it. I read the textbooks, I went to the meetings, and I always helped with homework and straightened out the miscellaneous stuff that goes sideways. I took the lead in recalling a school board that was going crooked and 20 years later I still keep my eye on them to make sure the kids are getting a fair deal. There were some early retirements because some staffers came to realize they were going to have to step up their game. My sons teachers learned to fear teaching something wrong or even weakly because I never allowed it to stand. As time went by I had a great deal of support among other parents who also wanted a good education for their students.
That’s the difference-—not just whining and bellyaching. Being specific, doing the homework to make the complaint legitimate, and slugging the desk of the responsible guy to make sure he’s looking at you when you tell him what the problem is. Been there. Done that. SEMPER FI
Parents also need to pay attention to who is on the local School Board, making rules & choosing books for the kids.
When I was a kid, ONLY the local parents & landowners were on the school board. They LOOKED at the books we would be using. They chose the teacher.
NONE of these people were ‘teachers’.
Today, it seems only ‘former teachers’ can be on school boards. That is tainting the whole system, IMO.
There are 4 kids in my family, all of whom went to the local schools. EVERY SINGLE one of us has been self-employed most of our lives....3 with employees, and myself who operated alone. One brother had as many as 65 employees working 2 shifts. Not exactly Microsoft, but a decent living for all concerned.