I laid in my bed and stared at the ceiling; I didn't want to get up. I didn't want to get out of that bed and get dressed. Most of all, I didn't want to get out of that bed and go to school.

The mere thought of going to school made me shiver. The bells, the assignments, the cafeteria, and the teachers...yuck!

The door to the bedroom slowly opened. I could feel her presence beside me. I knew what she was going to say, but I didn't want to hear it. I closed my eyes tightly in an effort to feign being asleep. I hoped against hope that she would just turn and walk away and let me sleep in today...please don't say it.

"Honey, it's time to get up and get ready for school". The words just oozed from her mouth. "You need to hurry so you're not late".

I couldn't take it. I sat straight up in the bed and said, "I don't want to go to school today. I hate that school!"

She turned slowly to face me, and with that condescending smile on her face she stated quite simply, "Dear, you have to go to school. You're the Principal".

This scene was occurring way too often in my home. It was getting tougher and tougher for me to get out of bed to go to work each day.

Why?

There was a time that I really loved my job. I couldn't wait to get on campus and greet the kids and visit with the teachers. I looked forward to interacting with each of them. We were a team...the teachers and I were teamed up to educate our students! Nothing could stop us!

It soon became evident that I was wrong. We could be stopped. Our efforts to better our students could be thwarted. And the culprit that caused me and the teaching staff to lose our drive was someone that I never suspected; the parents of our students stymied our efforts.

Actually, our efforts to educate were derailed by a lack of effort on the part of the majority of the parents.

For example, we teach their children to read. They choose not to read with their kids at home. It's easier to turn on the television than to turn the pages of a book.

Math homework? Forget it. That must be that new math that I keep hearing about and I can't help you with it. Go ask your older brother to help you.

Parents today just seem to have too much going on to get involved with their child's education. In many cases, we deal with single parent families. It's a tough job to work and be both parents; that takes a lot out of you and leaves very little to share with kids at home.

PTO, PTA,

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