I read this when it first came out last spring. Of course, it is a bureaucrat's view of the situation, overgeneralyzing and theorizing from one example to millions. The truth is that my children have not had to put up with bullying by fellow students, as I did. They were not harassed by some teachers, as I was. (One example: We were in a Tennessee school for 2 months when I was in 3rd grade and my Air Force father was retraining from fighter jets to troop transports. I had a horrible cough, as I had Bronchial Asthma. My Mother did not keep me home; I was like that about 1/4 of my childhood. The teacher sat us on the floor in a drafty hallway, with orders not to talk. After an extensive coughing spasm, my younger sister whispered, asking if I was OK. Gasping for air, I nodded. Whack! The teacher whallopped me with a wooden paddle. A second example: I had always had A's in English. An "advanced" teacher gave me a C in advanced placement English, after berating and humiliating me repeatedly during the semester. She said that I never should have had higher than a C in my life. My crime? I interpreted the poem "The Journey of the Magi" in such a way that the Existentialist teacher knew that I took the Bible literally. After changing classes for the second semester, I actually did get advanced credit by test- and half of her class failed.) I have also found it rewarding that I do not have to worry about my children and such news experiences as the Columbine massacre, or local instances of rape in the restroom. I truly hope that those in schools are safe, and most are. It doesn't mean that most at home are not.
I'll ditto everything you said. I pulled my kids from public school this year and am homeschooling for the first time. This year, their old public school (and all of the schools in the district) held "terrorist drills". At the high school, they had a drill including a fake shooting with injuries. For the elementary schools, they sent a "strange odor" through the ventilation system -- and their response in each classroom was to do a "lockdown". I am SO glad I'm homeschooling!! At least we don't have to do "terrorist drills" in our homeschool!! Yeah, tell me my kids are no safer at home than they would be in a school where they have to rehearse what to do if terrorists attack and take over the school.