Parent's Association Hell

One of the many things that people may not know about me is that I am on the executive board of not one but two Parent's Associations. I am actually the President of the P.A. at one of the schools. From day one it has been an uphill battle to bring about any type of positive change at the school. I went into this with good intentions. To boost parent involvement. To have more events for the students. To force the schools to hear the demands of parent's with regard to their children's education. Instead I have been involved in so many arguments and political turf wars that at times I just want to give up. The principal at the school in question has a good heart. I do believe he really cares about the children. But he is saddled with a ghetto, blase administration who would rather work against the parents instead of partnering with the parents for the greater good. It really saddens me that there is such a marked difference in the P.A. at my 15 year olds school in Manhattan than my 13 year olds school in Brooklyn. There is significantly less involvement from the parents at the BK school. The only time I hear from parents is when they want to complain about something or other. They offer little or no help to the exec board who works tirelessly on their behalf. It is a real thankless job. I often wonder, what is the point? Nothing, absolutely nothing has been accomplished since October when I was elected to this position. There has been zero graduation planning. One fundraiser that is still going on because so many children were absent on picture day that we had to do a makeup. Which is a whole other issue. The Valentines dance that I suggested crashed and burned because, even though we decided to have the dance in December, even two months is not enough lead time for this disorganized school to pull themselves together to host a successful event. I can go on and on, but I will say this:

If the school is this all over the place when it comes to the PARENTS, I can't even imagine how they are educating our children. The teachers have the glazed over look of zombies every time I see them. I think they just show up to collect a check. The nasty neck swiveling demeanor of the office staff makes me want to lose every professional bone in my body and stoop down to their level of ghetto, which I know I can't do. The laws and regulations handed down from on high by the chancellor and mayor are self serving and do not protect the rights of the parents or ensure that our children are receiving a quality education.

This is why I have decided to put my children into private school from here on out.

It's sad when you pay out the behind in taxes, but can't use the services that your taxes pay for because they are gawdawful. It really scares me to think of how horrible things will be next year when there isn't a President there to fight the good fight. But I am tired of being the lone voice of sanity, struggling to keep my composure before my true colors surface. Me draping up some chick in the main office would not benefit my kid in the least. Which is why I grit my teeth, try to be the bigger person and try to FORCE the principal to see his staff for what they are- a bunch of uneducated, just there to get a check, ghetto, difficult to work with, needs to be fired, seat warming losers who don't need to be any where near any child but their own and who damn sure don't need to be in a learning institution. Black and brown people, let's stop settling for half assed education for our kids. Education is the only way for our children to succeed other than throwing a ball or cutting an album and the former is more realistic. Demand more for our children or take them to someplace else where subpar isn't the standard.

Saint Anthony's, here I come!