The local Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) had their open house tonight at the school where my son attends, which is an annual “Back to School for Parents” night. Thank goodness the back to school night for my daughter is on a different night. As a single parent, I want to support each of my kids, but I can’t be in two places at the same time.

It was nice to spend a little time with my son’s new teacher and meet some of the other moms of the children in his class. We already know about half of the class from last year. I’m especially happy that his best friend, Joshua, is in his class again. Those two boys get along like peas in a pod! We exchanged phone numbers and talked about possible play dates and upcoming birthday parties.

Once thing that annoyed me tonight at the meeting was probably just a little slight to most people but it really rankled me. We started the open house in the auditorium. We were all expected to find a seat and wait for the program to start. We had short speeches by the PTSA President and the Principal, and then all the teachers were introduced. After that, instead of being invited to join our child’s teacher in their classroom, the Principal said that we were “dismissed” from the assembly.

Now, I have to say that NOBODY dismisses ME. I am not a student at that school, I am a parent and as far as I am concerned the teachers and staff work there for the benefit of my child and for me. We are not there for THEM. I think this woman needs an attitude adjustment and this did not get our relationship for the year off to a very good start.

Other than that, the teacher seemed very nice. My son seems OK with her and is happy that Josh is in his class. So we’ll have to see how things shape up over the next several weeks. In fact the fist report cards are due out in 2 weeks. I’m really interested to see if the school appreciates the fact that my son is an extremely advanced reader and a wiz at math – way above his grade level.