CC-I'm so sorry for you. We have an extremely low participation school as well. Ours stems from 1)parents who feel they don't have to participate because it's the school's job to take care of their kids and 2)parents who bus their kids in (we're a magnet) and feel that a 10-15 minute drive to a school event is too far. I have always said my biggest peeve is parents who say I'm too busy to help-that's like saying I'm too busy to feed my child or make sure they are dressed.
Our Open House is one of our most attended events. Could it be that all the teachers weren't there so parents wonder why they should bother, is there something else going on in your area (one of our biggest issues for events), and one of our other big issues, did the teachers send reminder notes home in the appropriate amount of time? I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it, it sounds like you have your PTO pants on again!!!
By the way, I'm not much of a gardener, but I'm really good at math and mathmatical ways of organizing art (no I'm not an art major) so landscaping is cool. I also look for things that aren't supposed to be kept up too much because I just can't. I guess if plants could talk to me and tell me they were hungry when I was trying to juggle a bunch of other stuff I might be better!

Whheeeewww It feels good to rant. Glad I got that out of my system. As my good friend Don Henley says (in My Thanksgiving):

Have you noticed that an angry man
Can only get so far
Until he reconciles the way he thinks things ought to be
With the way things are


t - you're right, zpacks are the best, especially for kids who are old enough to swallow a pill. 5 days, feeling tons better just 6 hours later, no awful, sticky, smelly syrup for 10 days, Yippee! Wooo Hooo for you - no more algebra!!!

For those with allergies or who's kids have allergies: Do you give them allergy medicine regularly? The doctor gave me zyrtec. Any experience with that?

Shawn - Yeah for rain. I'm so glad you got a break from that monotonously warm, sunny weather. Seriously, though, I hope it helps get that wild fire under control.

PEEVE: 50 parents showing up for Open House at a school with 600+ students.

PEEVE: 3 of my son's 7 teachers showing up (which, technically, puts them at a higher attendance ratio than the parents....)

PEEVE: 2 of them leaving before I can even get to their classrooms.

PEEVE: Librarian hiding out in her office instead of greeting parents.

PEEVE: Asking me to man the volunteer sign up table but not giving me a list of ways parents can volunteer.

PEEVE: A completely disappointing event that made the few parents who even bothered to attend wonder why they did.

I was going to post this on the Tips, Tricks and Peeves thread but didn't want to dump all over JHB's good intentions. But, in case you didn't notice, I am so frustrated with how Open House went tonight. Every bit of it was a disaster. I haven't been here long enough to know the cause and effect but I just can't believe the near total lack of participation. At every single one of my son's other schools Open House is one of the biggest nights of the school year. Ggggrrrrrrrrr

[ 10-02-2006, 09:08 PM: Message edited by: CrewChief ]

We got rain yesterday YEAH!!!!!!!

After a week of 93- I was ready for something different

Colts still undefeated- ND won- Cubs suck and Dusty's gone (BuhBye!!!) good weekend- my Roses are giant

[ 10-02-2006, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: Shawn ]

CC - the same happened to me years ago! Only I was moving from the south to the north and it wreaked havoc with my allergies. Zpacks rock! I love being able to take 10 days worth of meds in 5. He'll be feeling better in no time at all.

The weather here is great, crazy but great. We were also in cool weather clothes last week and tomorrow we will be in shorts and flip flops. Is it any wonder we have colds? But - it will be nice and I can sit on campus and study my brains out (algebra over, social pschy next!).

[ 10-02-2006, 05:14 PM: Message edited by: tlch1967 ]

Good news - sort of.... It isn't the flu and it isn't strep. It's an ear infection and bronchitis or, as the local doctor calls it, Sand Mountain Crud. Seems there are pollens here that we didn't have in Illinois and my son is allergic. I didn't know the symptoms were so similar to the flu. We got a Z-pack and some alergy meds. He should be feeling like his old self soon.

ScottMom and LUV, I'm jealous of your gardening skills. I kill every plant I get my hands on. I'm so awful that I only buy annuals and hope I can keep them alive for the whole season!