HS Back to School Night - pitiful attendance

[Mimi1965]

Ours aren't designed to let the parents meet the teacher. There is deliberately no time for that. The parents file in and the teacher launches into a presentation that lasts right up until the minute for the parents to file out.

Ours too-its the same syllubus the kids got first day of school-.
I did it Freshman year-then not again. I never had to have a meeting with a teacher in High School.
Then when My younger ones came up in the sysytem I didnt go-that is probably what happened in your school=OP

 

[penn19]

I have gone in the past. After every one my husband and I look at each other and say "well thats an hour of our life we'll never get back". Now? I would rather chew glass.......

I guess I am a "bad" parent. I care about my kids education, but they really are a waste of time. Around here anyway. I used to go for the "face time". But now I stay home.

 

[MM27]

I don't have kids, but my mom stopped going to Back to School Night after I was in 6th grade. I was a good student and I guess she didn't feel like she needed to sit and hear the same spiel that I heard on the first day of school.

I teach 4th grade and usually get anywhere from 5 to about 15 parents. There isn't really a great turnout for much in my school other than the concerts.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

When I was in HS, and this wasn't too long ago (class of 2005), it was rare that parents showed up. Including my mom. It wasn't because she didn't care but I was old enough to figure things out on my own and she let me do it. It was also time for me to show responsibility. I remember having to do special IB stuff on those nights and we could see the attendance of those things in HS and it was scarce.

But I remember in MS, those things were well attended and in ES, they were packed.

My mom stopped going when I reached MS in the 7th grade. The only thing she still went to was parent-teacher conferences, which ended in HS.

 

[bballmom56]

My kids are adults now, but DH and I went to every back to school night for each of them - I guess that is 26 BTS nights. Even when they were in the same elementary school, DD was in the upper grades which was a different night from the lower grades that DS was in. So it was always separate.
.
We really enjoyed meeting the teachers who were going to spend a lot of time with our kids for that next 9 months. It was good to see what their personality was like (yes, I know they can be different with the students). I actually found the high school BTS nights more interesting than the elementary school events.

We have been out of the public schools for 4 years now, so maybe attendance has fallen, but turn out was generally pretty good for both the elem. school and high school.

 

[torinsmom]

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.

I have had that happen to me. My son's high school has mini-conferences when the first report cards come out. All the teachers are at tables in the cafeteria and each parent can talk to them for 5 minutes. When DS was in 9th grade, I went and was asking his algebra teacher how he was doing and was he keeping up. He actually asked me if I was going to call DS's instructors when he was in college?! Okay, the school sets these things up and encourages all the parents to come, so what the heck? BTW, my DS has learning disabilities, so if there is a need for me to contact an instructor to make sure his accommodations are being followed, I will, even in college.

I teach PreK/K and I can't imagine ever asking a parent why they came to a conference. Whether your child is doing poorly or amazingly, parents want to know what they can work on and what the plan is going forward.

DS' HS had their Open House last night. He is in 11th grade.They do it a week after school starts, so the teachers at least have had a glimpse of your child. I had to come after the PTA presentation, and I didn't think I'd ever find a parking spot! There were only 5-6 parents in each class session, so if everyone had come, I would have had to walk 2 miles The teachers give a little spiel and take questions. You can touch base for a moment with the teacher between classes, and I did that in one class b/c noone else was talking to her. They have a sign up sheet for conferences and refer parents there if they need more time. I like seeing the face to go with the name and I like for the teachers to be able to do the same for me.

Marsha

 

[donac]

As a teacher I enjoy meeting my students parents even if I don't get to talk to every one of them. My syllabus is not up on a website so the parents comein to listen to see what we are going to cover. Many of my parents in one class heard me last year but they usually still come in. I think it is nice for the parents to hear things from me. I don't hand them things to read. I usually just put some points to expand upon on a power point.

As a parent I went to back to school night for both sons except for the very last one for ds2. I had to go my own school's back to school night. I was very disappointed. I loved meeting my sons teachers.

 

[luvmy3]

Ours aren't designed to let the parents meet the teacher. There is deliberately no time for that. The parents file in and the teacher launches into a presentation that lasts right up until the minute for the parents to file out.

ours aren't set up like that either but it doesn't stop the overbearing parents who won't let the teacher speak to the rest of us because they are bombarding them with questions about their kid.
I'm not sure how it is at the HS here but our parents night (open house is seperate) at the elementary school is always a full house, and thats with splitting up the students a-l and m-z. My dd starts the Jr. high so I wonder if the turnout will be the same or if it will be somewhat like the OP.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If any of my high schools had these--I'm not sure I would have had my parents take me. I would have enjoyed it on my own. But I honestly don't get the need for those and expecting parents to attend and then getting upset when they don't.

By high school--I had gone to school long enough that I didn't require special trips.

And for college...I Went to preview alone as well. My parents showed up long enough to unload my stuff out of the truck....and they picked me up at Semester ends. That was it! In that scenario--having the parent walk you through it makes a bit more of sense to me. I kind of missed that my parents weren't there. But they were military and didn't want to spend leave on that and that was totally fine.

 

[PaulaSue]

I don't bother since we moved. Here they don't allow the student or siblings and I think it is stupid not to so I refuse to go.

 

[Becky2005]

I don't bother since we moved. Here they don't allow the student or siblings and I think it is stupid not to so I refuse to go.

They don't allow students or siblings here either but then later on in the year they have an Open House where the kids are welcome and they show off their art work, their room, etc.... It's WAY less structured, people come & go as they please, etc...

Most kids really don't want to sit through a 25 minute speech of the teacher telling them what they are going to be going over all, the behavior policies, etc... --There have been parents on occassion who have brought their children (happened last night and the office had to page the lost parents!) It would be completely boring for the children. In my case since I have 2 elementary school kids plus had to go to the parent meeting for Outdoor Ed -- I was there for 2 1/2 hours between the introduction, going to both children's classroom & Outdoor ed and it was way past the kds bedtime by the time I got home.

In the older grades, my children have no desire to go sit in the classroom more than necessary. In MS, they have a take your parent to school day, where we follow them around during school.

I don't think there is anything in HS where it has something with child/parent. If there is, mine has avoided telling me about it (although I would find out anyway, I'm always checking the website).

 

[kacaju]

I try to go. Just yesterday I had to call the HS to see when our back to school night was. We don't start school until Tuesday, but they have not bothered to put the date on the school website.

 

[golfgal]

We go-our's was Tuesday night. The kids can go an put their stuff in their lockers, etc. and the parents meet the teachers. We have never had an issue with parents taking time to ask questions about their own child, etc. We start in their homeroom-get general information and follow their schedule with 10 minutes/class. It is nice to put a face with a name because we don't know all the teachers. We also got supply lists and a general outline of what to expect in each class. I find it helpful.

 

[PaulaSue]

They don't allow students or siblings here either but then later on in the year they have an Open House where the kids are welcome and they show off their art work, their room, etc.... It's WAY less structured, people come & go as they please, etc...

Most kids really don't want to sit through a 25 minute speech of the teacher telling them what they are going to be going over all, the behavior policies, etc... --There have been parents on occassion who have brought their children (happened last night and the office had to page the lost parents!) It would be completely boring for the children. In my case since I have 2 elementary school kids plus had to go to the parent meeting for Outdoor Ed -- I was there for 2 1/2 hours between the introduction, going to both children's classroom & Outdoor ed and it was way past the kds bedtime by the time I got home.

In the older grades, my children have no desire to go sit in the classroom more than necessary. In MS, they have a take your parent to school day, where we follow them around during school.

I don't think there is anything in HS where it has something with child/parent. If there is, mine has avoided telling me about it (although I would find out anyway, I'm always checking the website).

LOL, we already did that "talk" before school started for each school. I did go to those for each new grade. Those were boring too.

Here they have a web site with each teacher and the grades are all on line. Plus I emailed a few teachers and Dh knows a few.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

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.

That is horrible.

 

[dhcoffey]

We'll have our open house Tuesday for school starting Wed. I have one in high school, senior, and one in middle school, 7th grade. Our open houses are much more informal, no speeches or anything like that. We get our child's classes and go around and meet the teachers and see where their room is in any order we want to. I usually spend about 2 to 3 minutes with each teacher introducing them to my child (this is the youngest one only) and seeing what they need for the year in the way of supplies.

For the one in high school, the last couple of years, she didn't want me to go with her, so I didn't. But this year, she asked me to come, so I will. We already know everybody there. It's the same high school my DH and I went to also. In fact, she's had teachers that we had in high school. But she enjoys it, so we go.

Heather

 

[aprilgail2]

I don't bother since we moved. Here they don't allow the student or siblings and I think it is stupid not to so I refuse to go.

They don't allow kids in grade school to come to open school night- they send a memo home telling you this yet some people still try to come with them. Sometimes its both mom AND dad that come to open house that try to bring the kids....ummm..can you not read memo's?? Why not have one stay home with the kids and one come to open school night??

 

[Mimi1965]

....ummm..can you not read memo's?? Why not have one stay home with the kids and one come to open school night??

WEll-Some people are single Moms-or their DH works nights-lots of reasons.
If you want to go -fine

But dont put down parents who choose not to go -esp in High School where we all want our young people to take more responsibility

(and want some parents to get rid of the helicopter )

 

[disykat]

One of us always goes. My kids are in high school. Since our kids can stay home without us and we have two schedules to follow, we may both go this year. At this age, sometimes it's the only time we ever get to see their teachers. I like being able to put faces to people we'll probably be discussing at the dinner table!

I don't like it when the whole family goes because it gets WAAAY too crowded. I understand that childcare can be an issue, but I couldn't believe it when I went to the high school and was still trying to work around mom, dad, a bunch of grade school kids and a stroller! Even if mom and dad both wanted to come, the little ones could have stayed home with the high school student in charge!

 

[dawn1620]

My DD's new school this year (she went from private to public) had such a long and exhausting "Meet the Teacher Day" before school started that I did not feel a need to attend. We spent a lot of time in her classroom meeting her teacher, meeting the principal and the office staff, we even toured the lunchroom. Also not to mention meeting the room mothers, PTO people, ect. We were there hours.

But if her Tae Kwon Do class had been a different day we probably would have attended.