parental interference

She smiled to me broadly and exclaimed....'You must be Pn Ting.....just as my daughter described, sweet-looking.' For a moment I was flattered; but having been a teacher for almost 20 years, I know there must be a 'prawn behind the stone/or noodle'. I couldn't even recall her daughter when she mentioned the name...total blank...was a bit embarrassed as I searched my brains for a face to match the name. Then came the magic words that connected the whole scene....the dance is good. You must see for yourself. The girls are so disappointed that you cancelled it blah blah blah. The girls are to perform this May for English Day (every Wednesday). I assigned A to be in charge. B came up with the idea to dance. I told her to work it out with A. Unfortunately after the holiday, A complained to me about some friction between herself and B. It was a busy week for me....petty issues like this has no place on my overpacked schedule. I told the girls if they can't come to an agreement; forget about it....do it as I suggested in the beginning a quiz or whatever with A in charge. Well...looks like B was unhappy with my decision and poured it out to her mum. Her mum came for PTA meeting dressed like a 'datin' and acted like one too (she's not...she's just a Puan...so she claimed) and hoped that through her divine intervention and with the mention of a big name in the administration who is looking forward to see the dance, I will allow her daughter to show off her amazing dancing skills. WHAT THE........ I hate it when people manipulate me like this. Hate it.....happens over and over and over..... Anyway....I will watch the dance and decide if it is suitable for English Day or not....Sigh. This is not the first and will not be the last experience that I will have with over-protective, busybody parents who love using the PTA to control the school and teachers. I remember another incident when I was the discipline head teacher. I called the prefects together and voiced my disappointment over their performance and commitment etc. Randomly I called out a name as example and my eyes fell upon this real familiar face who from my History class. I just mentioned her name as an example. That evening, a couple came by my house to talk about their daughter who was harrassed and teased by friends because Pn Ting picked on her. I was......what is this? It was not meant that way.......how did this thing get so complicated and complex? She cried and said she was humiliated etc etc...her enemy (who was a prefect too) laughed at her and made fun of her. Not sure how true it was. I just remembered I was totally confused and felt real bad that I had damaged the girl emotionally. I was asked to apologize to the girl in front of all my prefects which I graciously did. That was not the end of the story....the parent used his power to find out about me and I received letters from the tax department concerning certain properties etc. Infact he knew all about me as to which schools I had taught before, properties I had owned etc. Such abuse of power....I was most relieved when the girl finally left school. Basically she had other issues with her enemy (from primary days) and it went a bit overboard in the last two years of her schooling days. A brilliant girl with low EQ and totally under the protection of her parents. She was to study medicine (probably a doctor now). I wonder if her parents still follow her around and harrass anybody who dare to say a word against her.