[apillar]

It burns me up to hear this crap from teachers that they want parents to, "get more involved".

They only want you to be "involved" if you walk lock step with what they and their union want. Go to a PTA or school board meeting and bring up the subject of increased teacher accountability / annual testing of teachers etc. You will find out quickly that they no longer want you to "get more involved" and you'll be lucky if they will even return a phone call

Trust me, I know from experience.

[netmilsmom]

I am so with you, and my daughter is only in Kindergarten. In her second month of school, a week after she turned 5, she was unsupervised as she and 3 other children carried lunch boxes back to the classroom. One of the children let the self closing door go too soon and my daughter's finger was smashed. 17 stitches and broken (only though God's help did she not lose part of that finger). When I went to the board and stated that the children should not be left alone, they said yes, yes, yes, and nothing changed.

[glory]

I hear you--I've found our local PTA to be a social club for a lot of the women more than anything. They are loathe to address serious issues and will fight like cats and dogs to keep someone out who is interested in actually doing anything more serious than planning the "Harvest festival" or changing the school menu. Saying anything negative about teachers seems to be a taboo amongst parents, not just teachers.