Whet that grindstone, baby--I just may take you up on it!

I hear ya! I just wanted something to do other than day to day mommy stuff. You know adult conversation besides Oprah during nap time!

Just remember...at your signal...it's all in my garage!

Kma, We do all the educational programs as well as a LOT of fun programs. You need to have a nice mix of both.

It's time to forget about that loser of a principal and her evil side kick, hopefully they will both be gone real soon! You can only hope that the next principal sees things differently.And be more involved(like ours is).

As for adding more programs, you really need to speak to your PTA president. I'm sure she'll be willing to add in fun programs(maybe if you offer to run them). If she's not willing to do them, then just remember you are always welcome to come to our programs! I always let you know what we're doing and when and that won't change. The reason I do this(it's a very selfish reason)is so that you and your other friend decide to send your youngest children to our school. We need someone who will take over as president when I leave. I'm hoping its you!

Thanks! [img]smile.gif[/img]

The funny thing is, when this trouble with the principal started, my issues, despite my saying it, were way less about "doing something for the kids" and way more about ME. Just the utter stupidity and lack of judgement of this woman really made me mental, and made me want to fight.

Now that I'm "involved" -- and it was really when we started doing Market Day which is less about a fundraiser for a "handicapped accessible playground" and more about offering this service for our community -- it IS "about doing something for the kids." The turnout we have for it is amazing, and everyone loves that we do it. Something little like Market Day. Now all I imagine is if we did some things for the kids--and how much it would mean to people, but more importantly the kids themselves, mine included. It's delicate ground, because we already have a PTA in place and they technically are the "parent group" so we don't want to step on any toes, but I'd love to be able to do more. All our PTA's programs til now have been generally educational (drug prevention, escape school) with some fun things (breakfast with Santa). While I'm all for these programs, I also feel fun and "insignificant" things also play an important part. They may not "educate" but they give the kids and parents a really good feeling about the school, and I feel that in turn makes everyone want to put more in to it, and in the end the kids come out the better for it.

I'm just so bummed that this principal can't see the value in fun, and having a sense of humor, and though she pays a lot of lip service to "making this the best school possible for the kids," her actions seem to say more, " I want this to be the best possible school for ME." She seems to be putting less energy in to "the school," and more in to being a disciplinarian and ruler. It's less about making the school great, and more about keeping it runing efficiently as a Navy ship (does this make sense? I'm all for discipline and rules, but this seems to be her mission--looking for ruole breakers and "problems," rather than DOING things, unless they somehow benefit her or the teachers). It's also alarming to me that myself and maybe a couple of other parents are the only ones willing to inform our BOE about the nonsense going on. I feel like the town tattle tale everytime I write my update letters! I try mightily to get others to share their experiences (and believe me, there are some REAL doozies in there--stuff that would blow your mind) with the BOE and super, but no one wants to "get involved."

I am the proverbial "dog with a bone" though, so I gnaw away, and hope that all my growling and barking bring something good!

Don't you dare give her the power to make you feel that way!!

You know, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be as involved as I am. Never. I was more worried about naming my twins Casey and Kasey...no drugs back then either hhmmm. Never had twins (thank god for their sake ) but it's crazy what we endure for our children!

As we speak, the fine people here are reading an article about our charter school vs. the school district. Yeap. Our school is wanting to separte from the disrtict and report directly to the state. Yes, we can do it and someday I'll know how (potty training is a priority right now ) but it's all so scary!

We are both dealing with professionals that are either going to come out of this okay or looking for anothr job. In the meantime we come here....chat....finish homework, dishes, laundry, etc and pray our kids get a better education.

Hang on....I'm tieing another knot, gotten good at it!

The only thing you forgot was the sharpened pitchforks!

The situation just sucks. Her MO now is to just make us as uncomfortable as possible when we go in. Petty, ANNOYING crap, like suddenly anyone dealing with the mailboxes has to check in at the main desk (of course none of the other groups sem to get a reaming when THEY "forget" to). Why, I don't know. We've never had to do it the 40 or so years the school has been in existence, and it certainly doesn't protect anything in the mailboxes, but there the edict stands, none the less.

I'm now bordering on being that annoying, big mouth parent who knows more than anyone else. My next update letter to the super and BOE is going to include a comment about her latest dis--We've just had our 3rd Market Day. We're doing pretty well (averaging $6,000) a month. The principal and vice have yet to order anything, though another principal who we're doing Market Day with does to support his school. OK--I'm not saying she has to spend her money. BUT--would it be too much to stick your head in on the way out of the building at the end of the day? The last time she cruised out without so much as a "fare thee well." I was happy to see that other parents (ones not as intimately involved with volunteering) noticed.

The worst thing about all this for me is that the school is not a place where you get warm fuzzy feelings. Not that the kids get bad feelings, but compared to the other schools in our district, it's a learning institution, not a school) and a pretty lame one at that--it seems as though my next battle will be the lack of an acceptable curriculum. We really have no family oriented things going on, and I feel it all stems from the principal. Not that I say all the school's ills are her fault. She got handed a crappy hand to begin with when she came in. However her leadership skills seem to be nonexistant. Let's face it, people (in this case parents and teachers) will follow where they're led, but if the leader doesn't encourage the staff and parents to BE INVOLVED....

A friend of mine made an astute assessment, and I think she's right. Her feeling is that this principal feels she's above having to do all this nickel and dime fundraising, and things like playgrounds are NOT important, nor do they have a place in "her" school. And in fact, they detract from the real business of school--the learning. I got it from a VERY good source that after our back to school night she was heard saying that "all this 'garage sale'" activity has to go next year" (we were selling our cookbooks and car magnets as well as signing up members, and the dance committee was selling raffle tickets, though I suspect the comment was directed towards us). It seems as though she has the feeling that our activities somehow lower the public's opinion of our school, and detract from it's image as a place of education.

I don't know. I fight the good fight, but this just depresses me!