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With that said , I do have one issue and that being with the complaint that there is not enough parental support at times.
Our school does parent teacher conferences during the daytime hours. My husband has NEVER been able to attend one because the teachers will not agree to an evening one. We even received a general notice from the principal stating that they also have families,etc... Our teachers do ONE evening function, which is Back To School Night. That is it. This makes it extremely difficult on working parents.
I realize they have their own families but it is 1 or 2x a year that they would be required to be at work past 5pm... I also realize that many teachers put in many hours outside of the school with lesson planning,etc, but in today's world, there are not many jobs that allow you to just leave work at work..
I think that if some schools were more flexible with their hours and timing of their conferences, they would see more support from the teachers (parents).
That's unfortunate. I know our school does try to accommodate people unable to make daytime conferences, I thought it was the norm.
Strange. We would come to work at 6:30 in the morning to accomodate parents before work. Arrange for conference calls at noon for parents who had lunch breaks, but no, our school never had night conferences, because the school was closed and locked after 430 pm.
Strange. We would come to work at 6:30 in the morning to accomodate parents before work. Arrange for conference calls at noon for parents who had lunch breaks, but no, our school never had night conferences, because the school was closed and locked after 430 pm.
Yes, our school does the early morning conferences too.
I also know that in our particular school, opening it at night costs the school. They have a specific protocol they have to follow to keep the school environment safe. For example, if the facilities are utilized after hours the janitor must be on hand, and an administrative member of staff. It's not as though the teacher could just unlock the place, and have various parents wandering at all hours. I can't speak for other schools, but that's how ours operates.
I have several very close friends who are teachers and have never personally had a problem with any of my children's teachers.. I think they have an extremely difficult job with alot of challenges.
I fully support our Home School Association and help whenever possible at school...
With that said , I do have one issue and that being with the complaint that there is not enough parental support at times.
Our school does parent teacher conferences during the daytime hours. My husband has NEVER been able to attend one because the teachers will not agree to an evening one. We even received a general notice from the principal stating that they also have families,etc... Our teachers do ONE evening function, which is Back To School Night. That is it. This makes it extremely difficult on working parents.
I realize they have their own families but it is 1 or 2x a year that they would be required to be at work past 5pm... I also realize that many teachers put in many hours outside of the school with lesson planning,etc, but in today's world, there are not many jobs that allow you to just leave work at work..
I think that if some schools were more flexible with their hours and timing of their conferences, they would see more support from the teachers.
So, how would you feel if your husband's company started requiring him to work evenings to accommodate a customer, after he worked from 6-4 already . If the schools held evening conferences and gave the kids and teachers the day off after conferences, people would complain about having too many days off. Does your husband get any vacation time, I am sure he does. Maybe he needs to plan some vacation time to go to conferences if you expect teachers to use THEIR free time to hold conferences.
Our school has 2 days of conferences each trimester. The first day they are held from 4-8 PM, second day the kids have off of school and conferences are held from 8-10 AM and the teachers have the rest of the day off. It seems to work well but it's a LONG, LONG day for the teachers that get to school by 6;00 AM and don't leave until 9:00 PM after conferences.
So, how would you feel if your husband's company started requiring him to work evenings to accommodate a customer, after he worked from 6-4 already If the schools held evening conferences and gave the kids and teachers the day off after conferences, people would complain about having too many days off. Does your husband get any vacation time, I am sure he does. Maybe he needs to plan some vacation time to go to conferences if you expect teachers to use THEIR free time to hold conferences.
Most professionals are salaried and have to work beyond the typical 9-5 schedule without additional pay.
If teachers want to be viewed as professionals, they'd do better to drop the union mentality.
Quote:
Originally Posted by golfgal
Our school has 2 days of conferences each trimester. The first day they are held from 4-8 PM, second day the kids have off of school and conferences are held from 8-10 AM and the teachers have the rest of the day off. It seems to work well but it's a LONG, LONG day for the teachers that get to school by 6;00 AM and don't leave until 9:00 PM after conferences.
Cry me a river. My husband works 72 to 96 hours per week. And he doesn't get summer off, nor winter and spring breaks. Teachers get plenty of time off.
So, how would you feel if your husband's company started requiring him to work evenings to accommodate a customer, after he worked from 6-4 already . If the schools held evening conferences and gave the kids and teachers the day off after conferences, people would complain about having too many days off. Does your husband get any vacation time, I am sure he does. Maybe he needs to plan some vacation time to go to conferences if you expect teachers to use THEIR free time to hold conferences.
Our school has 2 days of conferences each trimester. The first day they are held from 4-8 PM, second day the kids have off of school and conferences are held from 8-10 AM and the teachers have the rest of the day off. It seems to work well but it's a LONG, LONG day for the teachers that get to school by 6;00 AM and don't leave until 9:00 PM after conferences.
Boo Hoo. I am a professional. When my profession requires me to work long hours, I work long hours. That is what it means to be a professional.
I have the same issues with trying to get to the school during work hours. Registration/Meet the Teacher before the school year is held from 9-2. DH and I both want to meet the teacher, so that means we both have to take a couple of hours off of work (with a boss who HATES people leaving work for any reason), go to daycare, pick up DD, go to the school to fill out the piles of paperwork that need to be filled out every year, meet the teacher, take dd back to daycare, go back to work. All conferences, workshops, etc are the same way.
Did I mention that DD goes to a school where (according to the 2010-2011 school year) over 85% of the students live below poverty level and only 2 students have a SAHP? That means that most of these people are working hourly jobs and if they have to take 2 hours off to go to meet the teacher, they may not be able to keep the water on that month. If they just shifted the hours back, more parents would be able to attend. This was the #1 complaint last year. The complaints weren't about the teachers. The complaint was that we had no options for evening conferences.
BTW... The only evening meeting of the year is tonight for Open House. They have had to move the meeting outside because the turnout is so big that they cannot fit everyone into the cafeteria. You would think they would take the cue that when you hold meetings during the day, you get very little parental participation. When they are at night, almost everyone comes.
I don't really get the issue with conferences. Our school calendar is published sometime in the early new year for the next school year, and is sometimes, but seldom tweaked. The dates for conferences is always listed on the calendars, and is usually October or November. That gives working parents a minimum of 10 months to organize themselves. DH has had to travel at the last minute from time to time and miss conferences, but makes a point of spending time in the kids classrooms when time allows, and attempts to catch up with the teachers at a later date at their convenience. I don't get why the onus is on the teachers to have night-time conferences when parents have had eons to make arrangements. Maybe I'm missing something here?
I have the same issues with trying to get to the school during work hours. Registration/Meet the Teacher before the school year is held from 9-2. DH and I both want to meet the teacher, so that means we both have to take a couple of hours off of work (with a boss who HATES people leaving work for any reason), go to daycare, pick up DD, go to the school to fill out the piles of paperwork that need to be filled out every year, meet the teacher, take dd back to daycare, go back to work. All conferences, workshops, etc are the same way.
Did I mention that DD goes to a school where (according to the 2010-2011 school year) over 85% of the students live below poverty level and only 2 students have a SAHP? That means that most of these people are working hourly jobs and if they have to take 2 hours off to go to meet the teacher, they may not be able to keep the water on that month. If they just shifted the hours back, more parents would be able to attend. This was the #1 complaint last year. The complaints weren't about the teachers. The complaint was that we had no options for evening conferences.
BTW... The only evening meeting of the year is tonight for Open House. They have had to move the meeting outside because the turnout is so big that they cannot fit everyone into the cafeteria. You would think they would take the cue that when you hold meetings during the day, you get very little parental participation. When they are at night, almost everyone comes.
The meet and greets are always in the day time for elementary school as far as I know. Does your school not offer early morning conferences?
The meet and greets are always in the day time for elementary school as far as I know. Does your school not offer early morning conferences?
No early morning offered. Their times are always 9-2 which is the worst times of the day because it makes it harder to just go in to work late or leave a bit early. Since it is in the middle of the day like that, either we go in really late and miss work or we leave work and go back to work.
We also don't get much notice. Maybe a week at the most.
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. If the schools held evening conferences and gave the kids and teachers the day off after conferences, people would complain about having too many days off. Does your husband get any vacation time, I am sure he does. Maybe he needs to plan some vacation time to go to conferences if you expect teachers to use THEIR free time to hold conferences.