TEACHER-PARENT CONFERENCES

I have two boys attending schools in Moses Lake. One is a kindergartner attending Larson Heights Elementary and the other attends Chief Moses Middle School.

At Larson Heights, teachers scheduled times and dates for parents to attend conferences to see how their child is either improving, or in my case, how their child has done so far their first year of school. These schedules seemed to work for parents in the past. Sometimes there are issues where a parent cannot attend the scheduled conference so the teacher may allow a conference by phone. My conference with a teacher was 20 minutes.

However, Chief Moses changed their approach this year. Parents were given a date and time that was available for a parent to “conference” with their teachers and ask any questions or express their concerns for their child … only one day was available. My day was a Tuesday night from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

When I arrived at the new gymnasium, I saw three tables each labeling what pod your child is in. Each table had lengthy lines, in which mine just happens to be the longest. I waited in line for 50 minutes until it was my turn to speak with the three teachers. My total conference lasted 15 minutes. It completely wiped away my time to help my boys with homework, make sure they had baths and worst of all … not being able to have dinner with them.

This type of “conference” may be helpful to teachers, because they get to meet with all the students’ parents at one time, it definitely is not helpful for parents. Next year, the school should return to their regular conferences where parents have a scheduled time, so parents are able to spend some quality time with their children.

Christina Baye

Moses Lake