Conference Approach

[Anonymous]

I found out that our school only allows parents to meet 3 teachers for the parent teacher conference. My kid has 7 teachers!

So I have to choose which courses (science, math, english, history, french) are less important where I get no update. What is this BS? They can't figure out a way to give parents 5 minutes with each teacher to undertand how my kid is doing? And don't tell me its a logistics and scheduling issue. AI could figure this out in about 3 minutes flat. Teachers are giving time across a 1.5 day period.

Do all private schools operate this way? Seems ridiculous for the tuition paid.

[Anonymous]

That's ridiculous. At my kid's private (HS at a K-12), we can have 10 minute conferences with as many teachers as we want, including electives.

[Anonymous]

Reach out to the teachers directly and ask to meet.

If you want a meeting, make it happen. They are already handing you three, you can figure out the rest.

[Anonymous]

We always had conferences with all teachers (in-person pre-covid, by zoom during and post-covid). But also, we could always reach out to any teacher at any time and ask for a call or a zoom/in-person meeting. Just do that.

[Anonymous]

Who exactly is stopping you from arranging a meeting?

[Anonymous]

At ours, all teachers are available and parents wait in line to speak with them. There is not a limit on the number of teachers you can meet. There also is not a specific time limit for each meeting, but I try to keep mine brief because other parents are waiting. I think you can learn a lot from a quick five minute check in and I think this is a good way to do it. There is sometimes a wait, but they have food and parents chat while they wait in line.

[Anonymous]

I have a DD at Visi, they allow up to 3 conferences of 10 minutes. I usually ask my DD which teachers she thinks I should meet with or I just pick whichever classes she has the lowest grades in. I think it's difficult for them to meet with every parent so I try to be cognizant of that and just meet with who I think is important. No matter what the school, I would encourage you to reach out to the teachers you don't schedule something with, I'm sure they will be happy to meet with you.

[Anonymous]

At our private school we are encouraged to have a 10 minute meeting with each teacher and there is an easy online scheduling tool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our private school we are encouraged to have a 10 minute meeting with each teacher and there is an easy online scheduling tool

This. Since we are new at the school, we opted to talk with all of DC's teachers minus the elective class. I was very impressed with their level of feedback. Older sibling's school was similar--no limits on number of teacher who you could talk with, scheduled online and in 10 minute blocks, but we always just picked a couple subjects each marking period. Will likely move to that model going forward for youngest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found out that our school only allows parents to meet 3 teachers for the parent teacher conference. My kid has 7 teachers!

So I have to choose which courses (science, math, english, history, french) are less important where I get no update. What is this BS? They can't figure out a way to give parents 5 minutes with each teacher to undertand how my kid is doing? And don't tell me its a logistics and scheduling issue. AI could figure this out in about 3 minutes flat. Teachers are giving time across a 1.5 day period.

Do all private schools operate this way? Seems ridiculous for the tuition paid.

OP this is actually common. Nothint is stopping you from reaching out to all of the teachers that you want to speak to, and setting up meetings with them. There is limited time available on the one day designated for conferences. 5 minutes is not enough for a conference, so stop that nonsense.

Try being a little more proactive and a little less whiny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found out that our school only allows parents to meet 3 teachers for the parent teacher conference. My kid has 7 teachers!

So I have to choose which courses (science, math, english, history, french) are less important where I get no update. What is this BS? They can't figure out a way to give parents 5 minutes with each teacher to undertand how my kid is doing? And don't tell me its a logistics and scheduling issue. AI could figure this out in about 3 minutes flat. Teachers are giving time across a 1.5 day period.

Do all private schools operate this way? Seems ridiculous for the tuition paid.

No. We meet all teachers and even guidance counselors if we want at Stoneridge. It’s only 15mins each but I’ve been at schools where it’s just FIVE minutes per teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found out that our school only allows parents to meet 3 teachers for the parent teacher conference. My kid has 7 teachers!

So I have to choose which courses (science, math, english, history, french) are less important where I get no update. What is this BS? They can't figure out a way to give parents 5 minutes with each teacher to undertand how my kid is doing? And don't tell me its a logistics and scheduling issue. AI could figure this out in about 3 minutes flat. Teachers are giving time across a 1.5 day period.

Do all private schools operate this way? Seems ridiculous for the tuition paid.

OP this is actually common. Nothint is stopping you from reaching out to all of the teachers that you want to speak to, and setting up meetings with them. There is limited time available on the one day designated for conferences. 5 minutes is not enough for a conference, so stop that nonsense.

Try being a little more proactive and a little less whiny.

m

Clearly it’s not common so stop talking out of your ass. School does not allow separate meetings outside of the conferences and will not accommodate. You can only meet with the advisor- who is not the teacher. It’s just a dumb approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found out that our school only allows parents to meet 3 teachers for the parent teacher conference. My kid has 7 teachers!

So I have to choose which courses (science, math, english, history, french) are less important where I get no update. What is this BS? They can't figure out a way to give parents 5 minutes with each teacher to undertand how my kid is doing? And don't tell me its a logistics and scheduling issue. AI could figure this out in about 3 minutes flat. Teachers are giving time across a 1.5 day period.

Do all private schools operate this way? Seems ridiculous for the tuition paid.

OP this is actually common. Nothint is stopping you from reaching out to all of the teachers that you want to speak to, and setting up meetings with them. There is limited time available on the one day designated for conferences. 5 minutes is not enough for a conference, so stop that nonsense.

Try being a little more proactive and a little less whiny.

m

Clearly it’s not common so stop talking out of your ass. School does not allow separate meetings outside of the conferences and will not accommodate. You can only meet with the advisor- who is not the teacher. It’s just a dumb approach.

I can see limiting conferences to 3. As much as you say AI can easily arrange that for you, the simple truth is that there aren’t enough hours in the day to schedule a conference for each parent. AI can’t fix that problem.

Just call the school and ask to schedule additional conferences if it’s that important to you. I really, really doubt they will turn you down.

Or ask yourself: do you REALLY need to meet with each teacher? If grades are good and written feedback is good, what else can the teacher do for you in 10 minutes? There are parents who may have more need of that teacher’s time during conference day.

[Anonymous]

I have conferences today and am meeting all the teachers. 8th grader at a K-8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At ours, all teachers are available and parents wait in line to speak with them. There is not a limit on the number of teachers you can meet. There also is not a specific time limit for each meeting, but I try to keep mine brief because other parents are waiting. I think you can learn a lot from a quick five minute check in and I think this is a good way to do it. There is sometimes a wait, but they have food and parents chat while they wait in line.

+1 this is how our school does it and it works quite well.