Anonymous wrote:My kids were 1 grade apart. BTSN was like Sophie's Choice trying to navigate which teacher to omit. Before you ask, my DH was always traveling for work.

Sorry, but you’re gross comparing your little predicament to Sophie’s Choice. Please don’t make comparisons to the Holocaust like that ever again when describing your problems - it’s disrespectful.

Ours is 45 minutes and it was SO. MUCH. BETTER during Covid and the post-Covid year when it was on Zoom. We don't need to be in school sitting at tiny desks on tiny chairs. They can give us the info we need over Teams/Zoom/Google Meet.

I loved going to back to school nights. I liked seeing the different classrooms and meeting the teachers. I also liked knowing who some of the kids were in his classes by seeing which parents were there. And chatting with said parents.

Don’t go if you don’t want to go. I’m a HS teacher and stopped attending when my own kids were in 4th or 5th grade. I find them to be a waste of time. Everything you need to see is posted on Schoology. The teachers do not remember you, especially in middle or high school. We do not care if you come or if you don’t.

Me too. I might get 3-4 parents total out of 25 and their kids are on the ball. I am at school for 12 hours and it’s usually mid week.

-a teacher

Wow, I must be such a rule-follower because I never considered skipping BTS Night, even though I do not love it! I do prefer the ones that are in person because when it was on Zoom during Covid all I could see was a talking head. At least when it is in person I see the school, I get a sense of how far my daughter must travel from one class to another, I see the classroom, I get a better feel for the personality of the teacher etc. I do hate having to be “on” and chit-chatty with other parents so if I could accomplish all of the above as I invisibly travel from one class to another, through, I’d vote for that option!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher and I hate it too.

We are not supposed to talk about individual kids (not a parent-teacher conference), yet some parents will try to catch me, expecting me to "just talk for a few minutes" after the event or after a group change. I don't have time for this, and it is so selfish to the other parents who follow the rules.

Also, I'm exhausted and have to teach the next day, now with no planning time. I will be tired and "off" the next day in school.

I’m also a teacher (high school). I find the night very challenging. I only have 10 minutes, so I can only give a basic overview. I usually lose 1-2 of those minutes as I’m politely telling parents that I don’t have time to answer specific questions about their children. And I feel rude doing so, but I have no choice.

I taught all day, and then I’m at school from 5:30-9:30pm. I get home at 10:15pm, and then I’m back in my classroom by 6:30am the next day. It’s exhausting, and I can’t be at my best.

We understand that, Teachers, and we don't expect you to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the end of a long day. You all seem pretty energetic and upbeat anyway! Thank you for what you do.

Some of us are coming off arduous shifts as well. Let's give each other a little grace.

Anonymous wrote:If your child has an IEP they have meetings with all the teachers present. My daughter has a learning disability where she goes to the learning center 2-3x per week. All of the teachers come at the same time and discuss progress, any problems etc. That’s enough for me.

That's not the case in MCPS, PP. The IEP policy requires that ONE teacher, out of all my child's teachers, be present for the meeting. The meeting is during the school day, so they can't pull every teacher from every class for every kid's IEP meeting, otherwise there would be no one left to teach!

But your mention of learning center makes me think your child has a more serious disability. Maybe then the rules are different.

BTSN was super cringe in elementary school, treating parents like children. As they get older it's more just running from class to class, getting a feel for if the teacher is nice or mean.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher and I hate it too.

We are not supposed to talk about individual kids (not a parent-teacher conference), yet some parents will try to catch me, expecting me to "just talk for a few minutes" after the event or after a group change. I don't have time for this, and it is so selfish to the other parents who follow the rules.

Also, I'm exhausted and have to teach the next day, now with no planning time. I will be tired and "off" the next day in school.

I’m also a teacher (high school). I find the night very challenging. I only have 10 minutes, so I can only give a basic overview. I usually lose 1-2 of those minutes as I’m politely telling parents that I don’t have time to answer specific questions about their children. And I feel rude doing so, but I have no choice.

I taught all day, and then I’m at school from 5:30-9:30pm. I get home at 10:15pm, and then I’m back in my classroom by 6:30am the next day. It’s exhausting, and I can’t be at my best.

My kids were 1 grade apart. BTSN was like Sophie's Choice trying to navigate which teacher to omit. Before you ask, my DH was always traveling for work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t go because I am too big to sit in little kid desks where the seat is attached to the desk. So it’s embarrassing. I wish I could go.

Why does the high school have tiny desks? And agree with PP, just stand. No one cares.

They still have desks with the seat attached and they aren’t made for bigger people. I get it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate it, but I feel fully obligated to go. My youngest is in 12th. This is my very last BTSN. Judging from the low attendance each year, it seems many parents are skipping out. I already told my youngest I won't be attending his college orientation. I've already been to two of those and I'm done.

Why would parents be attending college orientation? That's for the students, not for the parents. My parents never came to mine. I don't remember anyone's parents going.

Times have changed. College orientations always include a separate parents' seminar while the students are receiving their own orientation. Administrators talk to the parents about managing tuition payments, meal plans, dorm requirements, parking issues, safety, etc. Lots of parents were there.

I don’t go for my middle school student. He doesn’t care and I’m too tired from my elementary school job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Find out if there’s a Zoom option.

Oh my god, I wish my school did this via Zoom.

I'm a teacher.

As a parent, I loved Zoom back-to-school nights. While I did miss seeing the buildings and the classrooms, I always got more out of the teacher presentations when we weren't frantically running around. I have three kids, including a set of twins, and so that colors my preference.

As long as we are talking about the ruching, as a parent who had multiple kids in the same school at the same time, I wish all teachers would notify parents if they are not going to be at back-to-school nights. Running to one side of the school only to find out that the teacher wasn't there and missing a presentation for another kid by a teacher who was actually in the building was one of my biggest pet peeves. Parents get it - things come up, but not sending work that you won't be in attendance seems unprofessional.