Please hang in there. The world needs more teachers like you.
It is unfortunate that parents can't remember to put their kids first. A child in special ed is no reflection on the parent. Rather, it shows that the parent cares about their kid and getting the best for them.
And the kid that stays home "sick" but still gets to play outside, I really don't get. That is my sign that I'm old. If we stayed home sick, even if we were better by the end of the day, we didn't get to play with our friends when they got home. We tried very hard not to be sick on a Friday because then you didn't get to go out to play until you returned to school on Monday.
Personally, I'd like judges to be given the right to start laughing out loud when some cases come before them. You can really find some ridiculously asinine lawsuits out there.