back to school night

[Anonymous]

Does your high school expect students to come to back to school night? New to MCPS, and not sure what the expectations are.

[Anonymous]

Nope. It's intended for parents and guardians.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone gone to their HS child’s BTS night? Was it different from previous years? What did you think of it, if the format was new?

[Anonymous]

It's mainly for parents, though I have seen some high school students accompany their parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's mainly for parents, though I have seen some high school students accompany their parents.

Same. No one thins twice if they come but no expectation. The more the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone gone to their HS child’s BTS night? Was it different from previous years? What did you think of it, if the format was new?

It’s meant for parents. MCPS did encourage HSs to try a new format and from what I hear from our school’s administration, there was a lot of flexibility to be creative as opposed to a program format mandated.

Ours started with a message from the principal followed by stations for each subject group. I liked the change. But I would have appreciated i formation as to which subjects fit into which groups. Like, where does marketing belong. And Arts was a fine arts presentation so where was dance. And not all teachers were present like in other years where we we r class to class. Even still I liked it better.

I provided my feedback to the coordinator and I hope others shared their experience as well.

[Anonymous]

Ours started in homeroom, with a zoom message from the principal and PTA president. Then some time to visit various tables and breakout sessions for booster groups or special programs, including one on how to access ParentVue/Synergy. Then 10 minutes for each class period, with the same 5 minutes between that students get. Most of the teachers were super-enthusiastic and would have happily talked longer then 10 minutes, but it was a long evening as it was. They asked teachers to briefly to cover one general topic per period, say, Synergy in 4th period or general MCPS grading policies in 5th, but my 11th grader’s teachers mostly didn’t bother.

I didn’t mind it too much, though. My DD was waiting at home to hear my impressions of her teachers, and for confirmation that she wasn’t exaggerating about how hot the band room with the perpetually broken AC was or how far apart her classes are, or how cool the reading list for IB English sounds

I’d say BTSN isn’t strictly necessary, but do I think it helps provide context and connection with your student.

[Anonymous]

Not expected. Totally fine.

Our school has a higher FARMS rate, and ours provides food and encourages parents to bring kids in general. We know many parents can't provide alternate care for their kids and won't show if they can't bring them. So we try to make it fun for different age groups.

That happens first and there is a resource fair where all the different clubs and parent organizations set up tables with info on their programs.

Then we meet in the auditorium. We have a new principal and he did an overview of his vision, introduced some school partners like booster club and PTSA, and then we went to our kids' classrooms.

They kept it moving pretty quickly, but provided some good info.

[Anonymous]

Not a single 9th grade parent showed up to my homeroom to pick up a schedule. So, either the parents never came at all or they may have had schedules and maps already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a single 9th grade parent showed up to my homeroom to pick up a schedule. So, either the parents never came at all or they may have had schedules and maps already.

I have always gotten schedules and room numbers from my kids. Wouldnt have thought that it would even be available at the school.

[Anonymous]

It's such a waste of time for MS/HS. I get why it's necessary for ES. Have a question? I'll email the teacher. Done.

[Anonymous]

No students.

Because otherwise the building would get horribly crowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a single 9th grade parent showed up to my homeroom to pick up a schedule. So, either the parents never came at all or they may have had schedules and maps already.

There were three of us in my 11th grader’s homeroom, but their individual classes were well-attended. It’s easy to pull up the schedule on Synergy or get a copy from your kid.