Being a product of Parochial Schools, parent involvement CAN be intrusive. Now being an employee of the public school sytem, I guarantee you the parent involvement CAN ALSO be intrusive. My parents were very involved and supportive in my school and my church as I was growing up and I had many opportunities that the kiddos in my school also deserve, but state funding doesn't allow for. Then we get to the No Child Left Behind Act, which is a whole other snake pit. Parents who have children in school and those who either have grown children or no children at all had better start taking education seriously. It will make or break your community, and the lives of those young people who will soon be the tax base that supports all of us "ole folks". We also can't have music, the arts, and sports stripped from the schools to pay for the mandates that the feds have put on the schools. These areas teach discipline, just plain stick-to-it-ivenss, and often offer kids who aren't going to be rocket scientists a place to succeed. You may think that school funding isn't your issue, but you'll soon find it's everyone's issue. Everyone deserves a good education. By the way, I also agree with the "tenure" issue in public schools. I have worked with many teachers and principals who retired long ago and just failed to mention it to everyone else. I also, for some odd reason, have run into a suprising number of teachers and administrators who seem to hate kids in general. Isn't that odd!
