Long lines during Parent Teacher Conferences tonight...

scrump

<font color=royalblue>so the decision has been mad
Joined
Oct 3, 2003
We had middle school Parent Teacher Conferences tonight.

In our school, the process is super inefficient - it's a sign up sheet outside the individual teacher's classrooms. It's inefficient because teachers don't always cross off who they've seen already, or worse they don't go by the list and just usher in the next family they see outside their classroom. In any event, it's hard to track when you're actually due. In my case, I have multiple teachers to meet so I feel pressure to fit in other subject teachers while I wait for the ones with long lines, but I hesitate to wander off because I don't want to miss being called and then risk losing my chance to speak with them. I am taking time off work so want to grab all of them while I can.

Anyway, all this to say, my one overriding thought tonight was: "I wish they had fastpasses, so I knew when to come back." Forget the importance of a child's education. I kept thinking of fastpasses.

I am not sure if I can make it until my April 2020 trip.
 
All I can add is good for you for going to your child's teacher conferences!
I know that, from your description, it feels like some of your time is being wasted, but I feel that overall your being there is time well spent. It's just good parenting on your part for attending, even though it might not be a particularly efficient use of your time.
 
We had middle school Parent Teacher Conferences tonight.

In our school, the process is super inefficient - it's a sign up sheet outside the individual teacher's classrooms. It's inefficient because teachers don't always cross off who they've seen already, or worse they don't go by the list and just usher in the next family they see outside their classroom. In any event, it's hard to track when you're actually due. In my case, I have multiple teachers to meet so I feel pressure to fit in other subject teachers while I wait for the ones with long lines, but I hesitate to wander off because I don't want to miss being called and then risk losing my chance to speak with them. I am taking time off work so want to grab all of them while I can.

Anyway, all this to say, my one overriding thought tonight was: "I wish they had fastpasses, so I knew when to come back." Forget the importance of a child's education. I kept thinking of fastpasses.

I am not sure if I can make it until my April 2020 trip.

We sort of have fp’s for parent teacher interviews at my daughters middle school. Lol.

2 weeks before the interview, you can go online and book a time with your child’s core teacher (home room, science and math) 1 week before you can go online and book any other teachers you want to see if they have available times. It works great.
 
We sort of have fp’s for parent teacher interviews at my daughters middle school. Lol.

2 weeks before the interview, you can go online and book a time with your child’s core teacher (home room, science and math) 1 week before you can go online and book any other teachers you want to see if they have available times. It works great.

Exactly. In this day of "sign-up genius" and other on-line apps, there's no reason not to have appointments.
 


For us, parent teacher conferences ended in elementary school (5th grade). No conferences in middle or high school.
 
For us, parent teacher conferences ended in elementary school (5th grade). No conferences in middle or high school.

same here for the most part. all kids had them in elementary but in the higher grades if it was needed the teacher contacted you/you contacted them. there were 'back to school nites' at the beginning of the year to see which classes your kids were in but with the number of kids/classes per day the average teacher has nothing could really be accomplished in the short amount of time they could allocate trying to do everyone.
 
For us, parent teacher conferences ended in elementary school (5th grade). No conferences in middle or high school.

We can still make appointments twice a year in high school after reports go out.

The first day of online booking, you can only pick a slot for one teacher. Math teachers seem to be most popular on day one. The following day, you can book for multiple teachers if you wish, if there is availability.
 


We don't get individual conferences, we get the night where you follow your kids schedule and each class is 12 minutes. Which is barely enough time for the teacher to introduce themselves and say a little about their class rules etc. There is no time for any individual conversations about my kids in particular. I go to them, and they are certainly efficient (unless you have 2 kids in the same school in which case you have to pick only one kids teachers to meet) but I'm not sure they're really that helpful.
 
We don't get individual conferences, we get the night where you follow your kids schedule and each class is 12 minutes. Which is barely enough time for the teacher to introduce themselves and say a little about their class rules etc. There is no time for any individual conversations about my kids in particular. I go to them, and they are certainly efficient (unless you have 2 kids in the same school in which case you have to pick only one kids teachers to meet) but I'm not sure they're really that helpful.

I go to those too. I like to put a face to a name. Some teachers are really engaging, others, not so much. Lol. But at least you get a sense of their teaching style.
 
We don't get individual conferences, we get the night where you follow your kids schedule and each class is 12 minutes. Which is barely enough time for the teacher to introduce themselves and say a little about their class rules etc. There is no time for any individual conversations about my kids in particular. I go to them, and they are certainly efficient (unless you have 2 kids in the same school in which case you have to pick only one kids teachers to meet) but I'm not sure they're really that helpful.

My dd’s high school has both. The open house to meet the teachers follows the kids schedules then for individual parent teacher conferences they use sign up genius twice a year. If the school doesn’t have conferences available at a convenient time for you I’m sure they offer scheduled appointments at other times if you inquire.
 
It's just good parenting on your part for attending,
So is it "bad parenting" if you don't attend?

We haven't been to a parent/teacher conference since the kids were in elementary. The MS offers them, I can't remember about the HS (doubtful). The teachers all have our contact information. I would hope if there is an issue we need to address, they'd let us know. If there is no issue, then meeting at a parent/teacher conference is nothing more than ego stroking "Yes, little Jimmy/Suzy is a joy to have in class, you should be proud of how you raised them."
 
Ours had the night where you follow the schedule, then a conference night later on that was optional. They sent a sign-up sheet home with the kids (How many HS students are going to even give it to their parents?) and you could also wait by the doors if there was someone you wanted to see at the last minute, but the slots were only five minutes. :rotfl2: By the last couple of years, we mostly just went to the "face-with-the-name" thing, and only scheduled if he was struggling with something.
 
We don't get individual conferences, we get the night where you follow your kids schedule and each class is 12 minutes. Which is barely enough time for the teacher to introduce themselves and say a little about their class rules etc. There is no time for any individual conversations about my kids in particular. I go to them, and they are certainly efficient (unless you have 2 kids in the same school in which case you have to pick only one kids teachers to meet) but I'm not sure they're really that helpful.


Around here, we call that "open house", and parent/teacher conferences are a different thing.
 
Around here, we call that "open house", and parent/teacher conferences are a different thing.
Yup that was what I meant. They've stopped doing parent/teacher conferences at all and have moved to the open house system, which is more efficient but I don't think necessarily better.

We can always call up an individual teacher and set up a meeting if we'd like, but it would never be on an evening and there's no way I could get all 7 teachers to meet with me on the same day, which would make the process of doing it myself pretty complicated schedule wise.
 
We had middle school Parent Teacher Conferences tonight.

In our school, the process is super inefficient - it's a sign up sheet outside the individual teacher's classrooms. It's inefficient because teachers don't always cross off who they've seen already, or worse they don't go by the list and just usher in the next family they see outside their classroom. In any event, it's hard to track when you're actually due. In my case, I have multiple teachers to meet so I feel pressure to fit in other subject teachers while I wait for the ones with long lines, but I hesitate to wander off because I don't want to miss being called and then risk losing my chance to speak with them. I am taking time off work so want to grab all of them while I can.

Anyway, all this to say, my one overriding thought tonight was: "I wish they had fastpasses, so I knew when to come back." Forget the importance of a child's education. I kept thinking of fastpasses.

I am not sure if I can make it until my April 2020 trip.


:rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2: pixiedust:
 
We sort of have fp’s for parent teacher interviews at my daughters middle school. Lol.

2 weeks before the interview, you can go online and book a time with your child’s core teacher (home room, science and math) 1 week before you can go online and book any other teachers you want to see if they have available times. It works great.

That's what we have for HS. Appointments are very limited and fill up quickly. I didn't bother signing up for either of my daughters. I already met the teachers at Meet the Teacher Night. I don't have any concerns. I figured I'd leave the appointments for the people that really want them.

In the middle school there aren't any official parent teacher conferences. If you have concerns you can request a team meeting or meet with just one teacher.
 
I have a middle schooler.

We have an Open House before the beginning of the year to meet the teachers and drop off supplies.

Then we have a Curriculum Night (it is about 2 weeks after school starts) and it is just for the parents to meet the teachers again, and see the expectations they have for the upcoming year in all core subjects.

Parent/Teacher conferences are the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, right after the first trimester ends. You sign up online for a 15 minute slot and you can pick what teacher(s) you want, if any. A few days before sign ups go online, your kid brings home a slip from his/her teachers saying if any of them request a conference, or if it is not needed. But you are always welcome to a conference even if they don't request one. This year, as with last year, we are skipping them. There's really nothing to discuss, if we had any issues we would talk to them immediately, not wait for a conference.

But I do remember in early elementary being online as soon as sign ups went live (kind of like OP's reference to FP's, being on at 7am!) to get the first time slot. Otherwise you'd end up waiting impatiently in the hallway as 15 minutes was never long enough for a meeting.
 
For us, parent teacher conferences ended in elementary school (5th grade). No conferences in middle or high school.
Same here (6th grade), and you make your appointment at open house. At one point we had 4 in elementary, so DH and I would split up, show up for open house, stay on the phone with each other, and get 4 appointments all in a row. There were no appointments with specials. They were only 15 minutes long, so obviously if there were issues, you would need to schedule another appointment (which apparently some parents didn’t understand, and then appointments would run late). I had kids in elementary school for 13 straight years, my patience for other parents dwindled.
 

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