In this day of increasingly busy schedules, the parent-teacher conference may be an even more vital tool to enhance students' performance in the classroom. Let's face it, many parents just don't have the time, or take the time, to keep in touch with their kids' teachers these days.
Unfortunately, Monroe High School parents have an extra obstacle to that contact placed in front of them this year. Fortunately, the school district recognizes the problems and says it's committed to make this a one-time issue.
The problem is that the MHS parent-teacher conferences will be from 8 a.m. to noon next Wednesday. In previous years, conferences generally started after school and continued into the late afternoon or early evening. For parents who work, which in many households is both of them, the morning hours are extremely inconvenient. It is not conducive to parent participation.
The explanation from the district is that a waiver to allow the district to count evening conferences as instructional days was denied by the state Department of Public Instruction. And then it was too late to work night-time conferences into the school calendar agreed to by the teachers union.
The explanation is logical from a procedural standpoint, certainly. But it's simply not acceptable. The parents' schedules, not the district's or its teachers', should always be the priority in determining when to have the conferences.
"We know it's a problem, the (teachers) union knows it's a problem," said Jennifer Thayer, district director of curriculum and instruction. "We're looking at a solution."
We trust they will.
Particularly given the community's overwhelming willingness to support a district referendum recently, the district's employees should have been more accommodating in this instance.
Unfortunately, Monroe High School parents have an extra obstacle to that contact placed in front of them this year. Fortunately, the school district recognizes the problems and says it's committed to make this a one-time issue.
The problem is that the MHS parent-teacher conferences will be from 8 a.m. to noon next Wednesday. In previous years, conferences generally started after school and continued into the late afternoon or early evening. For parents who work, which in many households is both of them, the morning hours are extremely inconvenient. It is not conducive to parent participation.
The explanation from the district is that a waiver to allow the district to count evening conferences as instructional days was denied by the state Department of Public Instruction. And then it was too late to work night-time conferences into the school calendar agreed to by the teachers union.
The explanation is logical from a procedural standpoint, certainly. But it's simply not acceptable. The parents' schedules, not the district's or its teachers', should always be the priority in determining when to have the conferences.
"We know it's a problem, the (teachers) union knows it's a problem," said Jennifer Thayer, district director of curriculum and instruction. "We're looking at a solution."
We trust they will.
Particularly given the community's overwhelming willingness to support a district referendum recently, the district's employees should have been more accommodating in this instance.
