32.

After years of dealing with the sometimes difficult parents of my students, I am sensitive to being perceived as difficult myself. There have been small issues since the kids began preschool that I have chosen to say nothing about. I did not complain, for example, when Gracie's preschool class watched 45 minutes of Scooby Doo each day after lunch. I did not complain, though I wanted to, when the "nutritious" snacks at Luke's preschool were lemonade, cupcakes, cookies, or fruit snacks.

But this week I wrote my first concerned-parent email.

On Sunday night I received a strange email from the parent coordinator at Gracie's school asking for volunteers to substitute teach in each classroom on Wednesday morning so the teachers could attend a professional development opportunity from 8:40 until 11:00. I was immediately concerned.

In my opinion, it seems like poor planning on the principal's or the professional development coordinator's part to plan something on such late notice and to rely on warm bodies to run the classroom for an entire morning! I was the professional development coordinator for my school for three years and I don't know of a time that we ever held a last- minute PD opportunity, nor an activity where we depended on parents to fill in in the classroom! There is already an entire professional development day planned for the teachers next Tuesday and I wonder why this activity can't be scheduled for Tuesday.

My concern, obviously, is that someone incompetent will be in Gracie's classroom. Her teacher stated at Curriculum Night that they were a very "active" group with fourteen boys and seven girls. I applaud the person who takes time out of her schedule to go volunteer that morning, but unless she has experience with large groups of children, I think she will be in over her head- at the expense of the students. Not to mention the fact that I am sure the students won't be doing much more than watching a movie or completing busy work.

After much thought, I wrote a very polite email to the principal stating my concern. I said that it seemed like a lot to expect of a parent to run a classroom- especially at the beginning of the year- for an entire morning. I said that I wished I could help out, but that with two other children at home and on such short notice, I just couldn't. I asked who would be running the classroom if enough volunteers were not found.

Her response was a very generic and somewhat patronizing "thank you for expressing your concerns.......all of our volunteers have had a background check.........we have wonderful volunteers that are comfortable with group settings of children..... I realize you are new to Stonegate, but we rely heavily on parents to help run our school....if you have additional concerns, please call the school to schedule a time where we can sit down and discuss this further..."

I was a bit unhappy with the response. I have chosen not to respond and will probably drop the issue, but I will definitely have my concerns sending her to school tomorrow morning.