If-Only Schools

While trolling the pbs.org web site today, looking for some game my daughter had seen advertised on TV, I came across a Q&A site about the back-to-school worries parents might have...

The two experts gave perfectly acceptable answers to some questions--about missed buses and the possible loss of innocence that face kindergartners and sixth graders alike.  

But I found some of the answers unhelpful and downright unrealistic, much as I do a lot of this advice.  For instance, to a parent's query about "the mysterious 'supply list' " that hasn't yet shown up in the mail, one of the columnists responds:

Heather - welcome to school! No need to wait for the answers to come to you - head on in there and start asking questions. As a teacher, it is easy to forget some parents are new to this whole school thing. You will not be shamed for not knowing what to do and will probably be cheered on by other parents who have lots of the same questions you do. The teachers will certainly appreciate your desire to be involved and seek out information. So, raise your hand and ask away. In doing so, you will also be setting a great example for your child to do the same.

What does this mean, "head on in there and start asking questions"?  And why does it seem so, well, foreign to me, as the parent of kids in Montclair's schools?  

I happen to know the teacher my daughter will probably be assigned for kindergarten, so I'm more comfortable with her and with her expectations.  Besides, she's outside during pick-up, and while not available for lengthy discussions in general, I can probably fire off a general question or two at 2:30.  But I don't know either of the teachers my son might get--I'm not sure I even know what they look like.  And I don't recall seeing them outside, so when I could I ask these questions?  There's a buzzer to be rung in order to visit the school, and it's generally frowned upon to visit a teacher after school with general questions.  (Not to mention that it's hard to pin them down, at least in my experience, because they are NOT officially on school email, don't have phones in their classrooms, and don't always get my messages.)

I've never received a supply list from a teacher, but I think my son's kindergarten teacher sent a note of welcome outlining some important issues.  Each year, first grade parents host a kindergarten playdate, which is nice, but teachers/administrators aren't there,  and it's very informal, not even held in the school.  There's no such thing as a bus orientation for those who take the bus, and kids don't get any sort of introductory tour before the first day, so those who DON'T have siblings in the school are often getting their initial exposure to it, well, on the first day. (There is a free week-long kindergarten screening in Montclair, held during the summer, but children are randomly assigned to teachers/schools for that.)

I don't really get this, as it seems that such things would really make the transition back to school so much easier--and probably save teachers and administrators headaches in the long run...I know someone once cited "insurance" as a problem in, say, opening up the school the day before it begins.  (Though, according to the tentative school calendar I received, teachers are in meetings for a few days leading up to our late starting day, September 9.) Someone also told me there are strict union rules against such things.  Sigh.

So...are the "experts" just clueless, or is my experience of NOT knowing what to expect unusual for Montclair?  Or maybe their kids go to private schools?