Is this the right school for my child?

I know that many of my friends whose child just entered K are thinking, "Is this the right school for my child?"  Or, they may thinking, "Do I want to be around these people for the next several years?"  Preschool and elementary school are such different worlds, for the child as well as the parent.  I will  be writing a series of blog posts looking at what parents should be looking for.  How happy should the child be?  How happy should the parent be?  Is it normal to feel disconnected and "not part of" the school setting in the the fall?  What would a perfect experience in K feel like for the parent and the child?  I do not have the answers to these questions myself.  Also, the violence in Connecticut last year, many parents do not feel safe anymore dropping off their child.  This K class of parents are the first class of children to worry when they drop off their child, whether they will never see their child again.  As an educator myself, I have never seen parents have so much fear about security and safety, even in neighborhoods where parents have traditionally not had to worry.  It is so sad for parents to have to worry about dropping off their children to school, it breaks my heart!