Good luck, mostly. I respect your desire to do good from the inside.
I had terrific, affirming experiences in my 12 years of school pre-college. I definitely saw some of the problems firsthand because my Dad worked at this school - but overall, I trusted the adults to have the best interests of the students at heart and I was not routinely let down. The same experience followed me through college.
So far - nothing but positive experiences in the public and private schools my children have attended. That said, should the pendulum shift and I start to see examples of the type of situation bnhall describes, I'll take my kids out and homeschool them. Thank goodness for choices!