new world desperately in need of the female version of this article. books have been writtten on it, but no one reads anymore, it seems. i mean no one.
and, females are the most frequent attendees at parent teacher events, conferences, report card discussions, etc etc etc. sexist but a fact of life.
so the moms need to learn decorum too, cuz a parent that puts off a teacher does the greatest disservice to the kid, and not just in that calendar year, because yes, the teachers lounge is where it all happens, just as in the articel you cited....the passing along of discussions about parents, almost more than those about their children.
it is very intriguing , to study the relationships of teachers with parents, and teachers with those parents' kids, and how they fare. i am sure there is a study to be done in there, about correlation. ie bad parent teacher rapport (not due to silk ties, that was over top although i get the point) might well transfer to the classroom, and how that same teacher concsiously or subconcsiouly, treats the kid, and there their learning process. anyway, as in life, politics trumps all else. and emotional intelligence (plenty of books out there on that theme) trumps IQ every time.