The day the March issue of Seattle Met landed in mailboxes a fellow mom at our kids’ elementary school shouted from her car, "I just read your article and it was like you were writing about our experience. I couldn’t agree more." Here’s the piece.

She referred to my husband’s and my laborious-slash-ridiculous efforts to land our child in a good Seattle public school. I heard lots of agreement, especially from south end parents, who find themselves stuck in neighborhood schools that generally lag behind north end schools in measures of academic achievement. I heard lots of disagreement from folks—many of them Seattle Public Schools middle school parents—who took offense at my characterization of Seattle’s public middle schools as less-than-adequate learning environments.

To get an idea how hotly invested Seattle parents are on the issue of their childrens’ education—-give the Seattle Public Schools community blog a read.

You might want to wear your asbestos.