Volunteer, volunschmeer

I was highly amused to read the comments on my last post. They reflected almost universal feelings of revulsion toward the notion of joining or volunteering for the PTA. It seems that a dislike for fiddling around in committees and meetings led by individuals with pouffy cravats and starched hair is a notion which transcends international and probably cultural barriers. I must admit that I'm not thrilled at the idea myself.

Alas, California is broken, at least where its schools are concerned. Budgets have been chopped and chopped and chopped over the years. Teacher layoffs are common. At my son's school, for example, 1/3 of the kindergarten teachers were laid off at the end of the last school year. It's been so long since a teacher's aide has been seen that no one can remember what they look like. Additionally, this particular school is dealing with the fact that many parents, facing hard times as a result of the recession, have pulled their kids out of private schools and dumped them in the public school system.

As a result, teachers are now having to deal with 30 squirming, squeaking, tantrumming little kids per class by themselves, as opposed to 20 with the assistance of another adult. It has to be exhausting. No sooner is one fire put out than another pops up.

Hence the PTA. Meh. I can't say that I'm fond of speeches and starched hair. However, they seem like decent enough people. At least they're doing something to try to plug the leaks, in the form of raising funds for equipment and organizing battalions of volunteers to shore up the school staff.

I do derive a sort of sick amusement from the situation, though. You see, toward the end of last school year, I repeatedly caught hell from my son's preschool teacher for not trying to enroll him in a parent-participation school elsewhere in the district. (I forget whether that was the conversation in which she referred to him as a tender little orchid which needed to be nurtured, or the conversation in which she compared teaching him to trying to herd cats. Mind you, I don't fault her for either statement. He does has both orchid and cat-like tendencies.)

Now, I'm sure it's a great school. In fact, I had considered trying to enroll my son there, even before she recommended it. However, it's so popular that nobody outside the attendance area gets in. If I'd tried, I would have lost the chance to get him in the school down the street. Thus, I finally pointed out to her that a) as a result of funding issues, all schools in the district are now de facto parent-participation and b) I couldn't get him in that school regardless and c) even if I could, it was highly desirable to only have to walk two blocks to an excellent school rather than drive across town to the other one.

Indeed, in the past two days, my son's school has presented us with five full pages of volunteering "opportunities". It appears that they're happy to have parents in whatever capacity they can get them. I'm running low on things to gripe about, so I suppose I'll go get my TB test updated and see if they want assistance stapling papers or banging little boys' heads together or whatever it is one does. Because that's why I worked so hard to get Summa Cum Laude in Physics and go after the pot of gold at the startup, so I could spend my days cutting teddy bears out of construction paper.

Stay tuned for more snark.