These are the things I can do without...

I never thought this to be the case, but I have unconsciously adopted a habit or philosophy where I choose not to get involved with anything, if at all possible. You could say that I’m simply keeping myself out of unnecessary bullshit. I’m just tired of having ‘useless’ responsibilities – having to follow through issues, to address the concerns, and to reach an ultimate resolution.

The thing is, my bi-otch factor kicks in when I’m pushed to my limits. Typically, I always allow some time for the issue to hopefully resolve on its own w/o intervention. The scientist in me feels the absolute need to do negative testing to ensure that I’m absolutely correct.

I hate arguing if I’m not 100% in what I believe in. Unlike my sister-in-law, she could sell you a dead horse with a toothy smile while walking away from the transaction with a wad of cash in hand. Even though some of her wacky beliefs defy common sense and logic, she will somehow make a convincing argument concocting facts out of her butthole. Yes, she’s THAT good.

I’m too much of a realist to do anything of the sort. In many, many ways, it’s my own downfall.

So, what’s up with me? Miki’s school going to the damn pits. Two and a half years ago, I was so thrilled with her acceptance to Transfiguration Kindergarten School since it’s ranked to be one of the top schools in our neighborhood.

Now, I’m not so sure.

Both nursery and Pre-K courses were taught by excellent and experienced teachers. Since her principal procrastinated in having the teachers sign their yearly contracts, one of them split two weeks before the start of the school year. Oy.

I didn’t think the resignation would affect my class since the teacher who left taught Pre-K. Come the first day of school, my jaw dropped when I saw Miki’s supposed kindergarten teacher standing outside of a Pre-K classroom INSTEAD of my child’s homeroom. Right then and there, my intuition kicked in. My stomach was churning like butter as I entered her classroom with a crew of new teachers.

As always, my inclination to give people the benefit of the doubt sets in. This time, however, I wasn’t too sure if this was an appropriate cause of action in this case. It has been a very long time since I’ve felt so uneasy and unsettled. Unlike other people, my uneasiness stems more from my intuitive ability than being a ‘bag of nerves’. A massive red flag waves in front of my face with such force that I have no choice but to take some action. And if nothing is done, it'll be my fault because of negligence.

There's no way in hell I can turn to my left cheek and ignore my intuition when it's obviously going to impale me. This week, I broke out in this mysterious rash on my right arm, my stomach has been floppy, I don't have a sense of humor, loss of appetite, and I'm losing sleep over this. The last time I experienced these warning signs was way back when I prematurely congratulated my former VP on her promotion as SVP (this was internal news shared within the division, but everybody else knew anyway). In response, she decided to escalate my email to the President of the company to initiate a political fight with my director. Based on this horrific experience, I can not simply write-off, nor dismiss this familiar unsettling feeling I've been carrying for 2 weeks.

Each day I drop my daughter off, anyone can see the problems in the class: disorganization, lack of discipline, inadequate adult supervision, and obviously, insufficient experience. Other parents notice the hushed tones and frustrations between myself and Camille, and budge in to join in our banter. The more I hear about the disarray in classroom management, the fury within heightens. Without any form of structured discipline, security is compromised as well as children’s learning progress. There are grave concerns whether or not these children are able to transition into the rigorous 1st grade curriculum at the going rate.

The problem? NONE of the parents are willing to voice their concerns. A few one-off’s here and there, hold very little water with this principal. As a result, I devised a plan of attack by asking a few close moms to join me addressing these issues directly with the principal. I had planned on writing a lengthy CYA email, but I wanted her to be unprepared for our confrontation. Tonight was Parent’s Orientation Night and after our teacher’s little show-and-tell spiel, I marched into the principal’s office along with 7 moms. With this body count, it helped to set tone of our discussion.

Unfortunately (or was it not?), I did all of the yapping. Instead of people chiming in and backing me up, they just let me go on incessantly. These parents are all anti-confrontational and prefer to elect a spokesperson to convey their so-called concerns. At some given point, I felt as though I was rambling off like some lunatic who was off of her meds. The only one time they contributed was regarding the topic on homework – how it wasn’t challenging enough for our children and omitted specific instructions to further support.

Obviously, the principal had already heard many of these concerns from the previous one-off’s and was prepared with some politically correct answers. I managed to trump her up on the topic of discipline in which she was in complete loss of words for. Because I had a solid example, she couldn’t defend the teacher in this incident and simply asked that we give the teacher an opportunity to acclimate and how she will personally oversee to the entire process.

Fine whatever. Some parents felt that I was overreacting to the situation, but others were glad that I spoke up.

In all honesty, I was afraid that I’d be completely anxiety-ridden to the point where the F words would come spewing out. Not only did I manage to control the foul language, I was actually eloquent without having to raise my voice. I do feel a lot better tonight and I didn’t chew anyone out who was related to me either..

Bottom Line: It sucks to be a parent. Now I now why there are PTA meetings.