Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Do parents volunteer too much at kids' schools?

Our PTA is hyperactive. I voluteered too much in my son's K class last year - thinking that it might help bring down the teacher - student ratio. I was hoping that it would allow the teacher to be more effective if someone took some of their workload off their plate. There were parents 3 days of the week in the classroom. And in my area, most families have 2 working parents and hence the volunteers were all trying to accomodate those hours they spent at school into their schedules and none of them to my knowledge were there for purposes other than helping the school out.
I was able to observe first hand what the "top notch" school was like and since my son was in a mixed grade 1st grade/K class, what the next year was going to look like. Long story short, I pulled my son out of our top rated school and have put him in a private school for 1st grade.

Good things about volunteering:
My child knows that his mom was showing up regularly to help the teacher because his welfare and his education were a high priority in his family. He even says that he would like to volunteer in a classroom when he finishes college!
I got to know what the levels of giftedness were with all the kids in my son's grade and what the levels of motivation were of the teachers in that school.
I also saw first hand how bored my Kindergartener was even when he attended 1st grade math and LA and how he was singing to himself, reading books and playing with Legos and blocks to entertain himself.
I also know exactly what little they do when they use the words "differentiated instruction".
All factors that helped me decide to afterschool more intensely for the K year and make an informed decision on what to do for the future schooling of my child.

Cons of volunteering:
Any layperson who is a parent could volunteer for a job which could be done so much more effectively by a person who is qualified for it (a real teacher's aide).
I know too much about the kids, their personal lives and any learning issues they have which I am not supposed to know (privacy issues? a lot of them are our neighbors, so we meet them outside of school).
I am still surprised that while my son's Little League did a background check on me before letting me volunteer the PS just let me walk in and work with kids (just a TB test was required)! Though teachers are supposed to be vigilant and nothing bad could happen to the kids on their watch, it still struck me as odd.