Do you bring your kids to a parent/teacher conference?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with a previous poster. The parents want the schools to do everything except discipline their children. They want free childcare all day with a myriad of enriching activities, small class sizes or aides in classes but no increase in taxes, textbooks and a better curriculum but no accountability because they want Larlo/a to have many paper and exam retakes as possible.


Some schools allows for:

-student led conferences (a circus IMHO)
- A child in a corner or outside in the hallway with technology (a bad parenting substitute IMHO and children roaming all over the place)
- Student High school volunteers (probably the best option but also requires that children are not allowed to roam freely or disappear)
(Seems to me if this option were exercised and a volunteer lost a kid then the school would then be liable)

Most schools and teachers according to some of them on this thread would appreciate you not bringing your children and their siblings to the conference. It’s pretty sad that people have an entire ~300 days to plan for an hour conference max and they don’t do it.

I’m a MCPS teacher and I plan for one hour parent conferences. I cannot get through everything in your child’s portfolio, enriching things that you can do at home, things to watch for, etc, if we have to constantly stop for your kid or someone else’s kid who is interrupting because they got lost or they are hungry for dinner.

We're in year 7 of MCPS, and I've never had a regular scheduled conference that was longer than 15 minutes, even at our CES, unless I asked for a separate one at a different time. (And even then, it's never run more than 30 minutes. Frankly, I'd never ask that of a teacher unless there was a serious issue.) Usually 15 minutes has been fine, even if it was just to determine that we needed to meet at another time to discuss something in greater detail.


But I have a serious question for you: how on earth do you manage 25+ one-hour conferences in the two half-days allotted for them? My understanding was that those two half-days on Veteran's Day and the day after were designated as the MCPS-wide conference period, but I can't see how you could possibly squeeze in one-hour conferences for even a small class. Or do you do something on your own, outside of the school's regular Fall conference window?

I took her answer to be a she is a MCPS teacher AND a mom and even she can plan an hour of parent conferences without her kids there.

Then she went on to explain how little time she has to get it all done and having kids in the classroom, disrupts what little time she has as a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with a previous poster. The parents want the schools to do everything except discipline their children. They want free childcare all day with a myriad of enriching activities, small class sizes or aides in classes but no increase in taxes, textbooks and a better curriculum but no accountability because they want Larlo/a to have many paper and exam retakes as possible.


Some schools allows for:

-student led conferences (a circus IMHO)
- A child in a corner or outside in the hallway with technology (a bad parenting substitute IMHO and children roaming all over the place)
- Student High school volunteers (probably the best option but also requires that children are not allowed to roam freely or disappear)
(Seems to me if this option were exercised and a volunteer lost a kid then the school would then be liable)

Most schools and teachers according to some of them on this thread would appreciate you not bringing your children and their siblings to the conference. It’s pretty sad that people have an entire ~300 days to plan for an hour conference max and they don’t do it.

I’m a MCPS teacher and I plan for one hour parent conferences. I cannot get through everything in your child’s portfolio, enriching things that you can do at home, things to watch for, etc, if we have to constantly stop for your kid or someone else’s kid who is interrupting because they got lost or they are hungry for dinner.

We're in year 7 of MCPS, and I've never had a regular scheduled conference that was longer than 15 minutes, even at our CES, unless I asked for a separate one at a different time. (And even then, it's never run more than 30 minutes. Frankly, I'd never ask that of a teacher unless there was a serious issue.) Usually 15 minutes has been fine, even if it was just to determine that we needed to meet at another time to discuss something in greater detail.


But I have a serious question for you: how on earth do you manage 25+ one-hour conferences in the two half-days allotted for them? My understanding was that those two half-days on Veteran's Day and the day after were designated as the MCPS-wide conference period, but I can't see how you could possibly squeeze in one-hour conferences for even a small class. Or do you do something on your own, outside of the school's regular Fall conference window?

I am the previous poster, it’s pretty simple. I schedule conferences beginning the last weeks of October up to the two days given in November. I also ask that parents do not bring their children. If I am not bringing my children I’d expect that you treat my profession with respect and don’t bring your children (young ones and the ones that are my pupils). I don’t require that parents stay the full hour of the conference, you can conference as short or as long as you’d like but it’s beneficial for you and your child. Over the years I have noticed that the parents who meet for the full hour are my top advanced students. The parents who *only* have time for “15 mins” tend to have children that fall in the medium or below benchmark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is amazing that was once a parents small responsibility to get childcare, use aftercare, find a middle or high schooler neighbor, or swap kids with a friend or neighbor for a WHOLE 1 hour tops - has now turned into swarms of kids in the school building during quiet adult conference times.

It is just too hard, you say? There is no need to follow the rules, you say? I just can’t afford it, you say?

Yes, having an entire year to plan for a 1 hour babysitter is truly tough. I feel for you. Instead, we will make sure the already rushed faculty at the school provide entertainment for your lazy ass so your kids aren’t too much of a PIA during adult conferences.

Agree! My oldest is 19 and my young set is 9. When the oldest was in ES, there were no kids. Parents actually held themselves accountable. Now, they just expect the school to provide free childcare. It is ridiculous how so much liability is falling onto the school and so much less liability for parents.

100% agreed.