HS Back to School Night - pitiful attendance

[Deb in IA]

So, last night was our DS's HS Back to School night.

We had always made it a priority to attend, even though we already know many of the teachers (small private Catholic school, and our DD had many of the same teachers 4 years earlier).

I just think it is a good way to start off the year, to have a brief "face to face" with the teachers, and to review the course syllabus and class expectations.

I was, however, shocked at the poor attendance!

There were several classes where the teacher mentioned that it was a big class - 33 students in one, 28 in another - and I looked around to see maybe 6 or 7 parents there.

Sort of sad, I think.

What about you? Do you go to Back To School night?

 

[SC Minnie]

DD is s junior and we have always gone. We went last week as a matter of fact. Some of her classes had a lot of parents and other not many.

 

[happygirl]

So, last night was our DS's HS Back to School night.

We had always made it a priority to attend, even though we already know many of the teachers (small private Catholic school, and our DD had many of the same teachers 4 years earlier).

I just think it is a good way to start off the year, to have a brief "face to face" with the teachers, and to review the course syllabus and class expectations.

I was, however, shocked at the poor attendance!

There were several classes where the teacher mentioned that it was a big class - 33 students in one, 28 in another - and I looked around to see maybe 6 or 7 parents there.

Sort of sad, I think.

What about you? Do you go to Back To School night?

Our kids are in first and kindergarten. It was standing room only.

 

[MichelleVW]

So, last night was our DS's HS Back to School night.

We had always made it a priority to attend, even though we already know many of the teachers (small private Catholic school, and our DD had many of the same teachers 4 years earlier).

I just think it is a good way to start off the year, to have a brief "face to face" with the teachers, and to review the course syllabus and class expectations.

I was, however, shocked at the poor attendance!

There were several classes where the teacher mentioned that it was a big class - 33 students in one, 28 in another - and I looked around to see maybe 6 or 7 parents there.

Sort of sad, I think.

What about you? Do you go to Back To School night?

I haven't been since my girls were very young and wanted to show off their school. Honestly it's not a big priority for me, and I have no desire to go.

 

[luvmy3]

Yes, every year. However I never want to go because at this point I know all the teachers and all they do is read from the paperwork they give us. I also find that there are a few parents who monopolize the teacher asking questions about there own child. It is supposed to be an informational night for all parents not a conference for you, schedule that another night. (We do not have back to school night the first day back, its a couple weeks after school starts).
My kids are in elementary school, and one will be in the Jr. High this year, for now I will continue to go, who knows what will happen when they hit HS.

 

[hereyago]

DD12 had her "Open house" the other night. We were there for about an hour, it lasts 2 hours. There were quite a few people. The parkng lot isn't really big but people were parking on the grass then you could also use the buses from a parking area closeby to be taken to the school.

And there would be about 6 or7 or so parents at the time in the classroom, but a lot of them would wait outside then come in after the teacher talked about the class.

 

[castleview]

DH finds Meet the Teachers Night very boring because hardly any parents come to his classroom…and he has mostly honor students.

I do wonder if his particular school system fosters that because many parents have told him when they would come to conferences while their kids were in elementary school, some teachers would say "Why are you here? You're kid is fine." I don't know if this is an exaggeration, but I've heard this is enough.

 

[minniebeth]

We always attend Back to School Night (as I always called it, around here it's called Curriculum Night). My DS is a sophomore in HS and we make it a priority to be there. We have not met the teachers he will have this year, so that was important to us. They give out the syllabus for the class for the year, important phone numbers, emails and lots of critical information. If you miss that, I think parents would really miss out on a lot of things they should know.

We attend our younger girls' nights as well.

I just think it sends a message to both the teachers and your children that you support them and their education experience is important to you.

Of course, there are good reasons why parents can't make it~

 

[ckay87]

Yea we always go. I'm just nosey and want to meet the people I will hear about for the next 9 months. That's pretty much it at this point (12th grade!!) But our turnout, for this grade level especially is even worse than yours. We are often the only ones in any given class. But it's cool because we end up with private conferences, ha ha.

 

[NotUrsula]

Our parochial school bribes and blackmails to get parents there. There are several carrot-stick tactics they use, including this year's new one of offering a raffle for 25% off this year's tuition as a door prize for one lucky winner.

Among the things they use: 1) First choice of volunteer assignment signups are always done in person at the meeting. Miss it and you have to deal with whatever slots are left. We are required to volunteer a certain number of hours each year, so this is a big deal. 2) A dress-down day pass for the kids of parents who attend. If you don't go, your kids are in uniform that day, and everyone knows whose parents are ducking out of the meeting.

Needless to say, there is always a full house.

 

[luvmy3]

We always attend Back to School Night (as I always called it, around here it's called Curriculum Night). My DS is a sophomore in HS and we make it a priority to be there. We have not met the teachers he will have this year, so that was important to us. They give out the syllabus for the class for the year, important phone numbers, emails and lots of critical information. If you miss that, I think parents would really miss out on a lot of things they should know.
We attend our younger girls' nights as well.

I just think it sends a message to both the teachers and your children that you support them and their education experience is important to you.

Of course, there are good reasons why parents can't make it~

Our district issues every family an acct so that we have access to all that stuff on the district's website. We can even track their attendance, test scores and contact the teachers through it.

 

[MichelleVW]

Our district issues every family an acct so that we have access to all that stuff on the district's website. We can even track their attendance, test scores and contact the teachers through it.

Same here....I read the daily announcements online and can track all of her grades online...so not sure why I would need to go unless there is a problem.

 

[HelenePA]

We only have back to school night for K and Prek here.. Open house is on the 16th last year we missed it because all the kids were sick with streap throat.. I'm pretty sure they didn't want us there

 

[hereyago]

Our district issues every family an acct so that we have access to all that stuff on the district's website. We can even track their attendance, test scores and contact the teachers through it.

Whoever thought of this idea rocks!!!!!!!!! Each night , I can see what DD has for homework and what they did in class. And there shouldn't be excuses from parents not to know if their kid is getting bad grades with these sort of websites.

DD all ready has 3 homework assignments: go to 2 teachers websites and blog about certain things about the website and write any ideas they may have for the class, then the 3rd is about preparing for a hurricane and get ready to discuss it in class on Tuesday.

 

[powellrj]

We attended my DDs last week. She is a Freshman and attending a new district so we were very interested in seeing the school. She had a parade of people with her. Because none of the family members had ever seen the school, both of her grandparents, her brother and sister and law also came. It was a little embarrassing, but nobody seemed to mind.

I would say they had a pretty good turnout. We stopped going to our old districts open houses because teachers weren't required to attend, so many didn't. There were years in Middle and HS where only 2 teachers would show up and it became a waste of time.

I was so happy to see all the teachers in attendance.

 

[powellrj]

Our district issues every family an acct so that we have access to all that stuff on the district's website. We can even track their attendance, test scores and contact the teachers through it.

Our old district had this too, the only problem was it wasn't required so most teachers never used it. Our new school has it, but there isn't anything reported yet. I will try again next week! They did pass the log-on information out at open house. I thought it was a great way to see who came and who didn't!

 

[luvmy3]

Whoever thought of this idea rocks!!!!!!!!! Each night , I can see what DD has for homework and what they did in class. And there shouldn't be excuses from parents not to know if their kid is getting bad grades with these sort of websites.

DD all ready has 3 homework assignments: go to 2 teachers websites and blog about certain things about the website and write any ideas they may have for the class, then the 3rd is about preparing for a hurricane and get ready to discuss it in class on Tuesday.

ITA. I ask my kids everyday what they did in school and instead of hearing "we went to gym", I will know exactly what they did and be able to go over it with them and make sure they understand the lesson and are ready to move on instead of finding out a week later they are falling behind. This is a new thing for us so I'm very excited since I had to rely on my kids telling me everything and waiting for the homework folder coming home the following week and seeing things when it was too late to catch problems.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

I think we only have one for freshman here. They do have a day where the kids can go get their schedules and meet teachers and do what they need to do. I went the first year but since Kevin is a senior he would be this if I went with him. He did have a problem with his schedule and I was happy to let him take care of it himself.

We do have a parent school night and we go to that. It where we follow our kids schedule and go to class to class. Not many go there but it does induce those back to school nightmares.

The first year I went and wore Kevin's football button. One Mom kept going on about how cute he was and said she wanted her dd to start dating him. Turned out her dd was one of the skankiest girls in the school. Poor Kevin kept getting bugged by this girl too.

We did go to the other 2 open houses and they were crazy busy.

 

[luvmy3]

Our old district had this too, the only problem was it wasn't required so most teachers never used it. Our new school has it, but there isn't anything reported yet. I will try again next week! They did pass the log-on information out at open house. I thought it was a great way to see who came and who didn't!

I hope this doesn't happen, I realize its alot more work for teacher to have to update things daily, but I think its such a great tool for parents and it will help the teachers in the long run.

 

[jrmasm]

Either my husband or I attend for elementary and middle school. DD is in 10th this year and I doubt either of us will attend. We had almost no contact with her teachers last year as we expect her to handle those relationships. DH did attend for her freshman year.