When I saw the above-the-fold headline about a school meeting (“Northampton schools probe staff response to student’s unfulfilled IEP,” Gazette, March 31) I thought, ah jeez, here they go again?

It seems every time Northampton experiences what the rest of the country must live with, it becomes a big new story.

Why? One meeting about one student’s IEP merits a front-page story. Why? Is it only because someone made a complaint? And once the complaint is made it must be strip-mined for what? Evil? Have we lost all sense of proportion? Or are people simply surrendering all critical thinking so they can be stampeded into the “right place” regardless of how wrong it is? Is life now just a game of musical chairs in which you care not for what the game is about so long as you are not the one left standing … standing all alone while all others sit?

The article itself, in almost its first quote from the professionals in the room, explained the entire situation for the parent of the child, the editors of the Gazette and everyone else readying their knickers for twist over this … this … nothing. This very common occurrence in a public school!

“The reality of the situation is that we don’t always … I mean, we should, but we don’t always give kids everything they should get on their IEP,” says one of the speakers, who are not labeled on the transcript. “Sometimes there isn’t coverage or sometimes there isn’t staffing or whatever,” said one of the professionals in the room.

A perfect summary of all public schools’ dilemma: we have just enough to get through the day, and when you have teachers sick, paraprofessionals out, people having babies all schools are regularly short-staffed for their day. And no school will leave a classroom of kids unattended so one student can have their one-on-one paraprofessional.

And there is nothing to debate about that. No crisis, no scandal. (But I’ll bet someone’s head will have to roll because, you know, someone complained.)

The article also quoted professionals saying that the parent came from a more affluent town and was therefore used to better service. That is also simply true everywhere. Belmont is richer than Northampton, and Northampton is richer than Springfield; and the quality of your local schools is always tied to local wealth. Only the clueless affluent expect affluence to follow them no matter where they go.

I teach lots of students with IEPs, my own son was on one for years, too. And here is a secret many teachers know: as more parents have surrendered their role in their children’s education, they throw it entirely back on the school. If a parent cannot get their teenager to finish homework, turn in essays, get off their phones and read (and thus begin to fail in school) they will often ask for an IEP. But such plans are useless when the real difficulty is adolescence — a turbulent hormonal roller coaster ride now warped by the rise of social-media parenting.

But I don’t think this news story and whatever follows has any merit beyond the meeting itself. Northampton might be a land of milk and honey, but it exists in a great desert, and sometimes you’re gonna get sand in your eyes.

Joe Gannon, teacher and writer, lives in Easthampton.