Slices of Life: It’s Parent-Teacher Conference Time Again

By Columnist Lisa Gibalerio

Parents of high school students recently received an email regarding Parent-Teacher conferences. The email offered instructions for scheduling the conference, online, of course. I have included, in italics, email excerpts – along with my responses.

It must be a simple process, signing up: just figure out the dates and times, then show up. Easy, right? Not so fast.

The email starts out nicely enough:

Beginning Tuesday, October 15th, you will have the opportunity to schedule Parent-Teacher Conferences online.  Each conference is five minutes.  This is an opportunity for you to meet with your child’s teachers regarding your child’s progress and/or concerns you may have about your child’s progress in the class.

For those of you who do not have students at the high school, this is what a five-minute conference looks like:

Me: (a little winded from running around the building, in a panic, trying to locate Room 239.)  “Hi.  I’m Benjy’s mom. So, how is he doing?”

Teacher: “Nice to meet you. He seems fine. And I am sorry, but that’s all we have time for. Next!”

Okay, that’s an exaggeration – but only a slight one.

Back to the email:

How do parents register for a conference?

Starting on October 15th please go to: [website listed here]. On the registration form, enter your name, e-mail address, phone number, and student name/grade level and then click on “Register”.

In my experience, registering for a conference online is never a straightforward process.  For reasons that lie mostly – but not solely – with my own technological ineptitude, it does not work the first six times. But that’s OK, because if I manage to click on “Register,” things will only get more challenging anyway.

The email continues:

At the next screen, select the name of your child’s teacher.

What?  “Select the name of your child’s teacher”? Er, isn’t that the point of the conferences, to meet these mysterious public servants in the first place?

Unfortunately, I don’t know the names of my son’s six teachers. I’m lucky if I know the general subject area of his courses, let alone the teacher names.  This is definitely all my fault and is the result of skimming too many emails. 

The instructions continue:

Once you have selected a teacher, you will be asked to select an available conference time. 

Now, keeping in mind that the conferences are only five minutes long, it’s more than a little tricky to schedule six conferences, within the same approximate timeframe, with six different teachers, none of whom I know the name of. And trust me, no one wants to end up with one conference at 11:10 another at 12:35, the third at 1:40, etc.  However, one must remember to factor in the time it takes to find a particular classroom, so scheduling in rapid succession is not advised either.

(Need I mention that it ends up taking longer to sign up for the darn conferences than it does to actually meet with the teachers?)

But wait, help is available for those who are now experiencing an acute case of Conference Confusion:  

What happens if I cannot make any of the listed conference times?

Conferences can always be scheduled offline as you have done in the past. Please contact your child’s teacher directly.

Darn!  Again, with knowing the teacher’s name!  

Next up: advice for parents who need to change a scheduled conference time.  I have little hope of actually getting that far, but I read it over anyway:

How do I change my conference times?

To change your conference time, go to: [website again!] and log back into the system using your e-mail address. You can then delete the old conference time and add a new one. Changes after the registration window must be made directly with your child’s teacher.

Clear as mud, right?  But, wait. Not all hope is lost! Here is the tip I’ve been longing for:

You can obtain your child’s teachers name on …

(Don’t say Edline, don’t say Edline–)

…your Edline account.

D’oh!

Arrrgh, why did it have to be on Edline?!

Edline is the schools’ electronic resource, but it’s kind of clunky. So this all-important information – and the key to successfully scheduling a conference – may as well be hidden on the top of Mt. Everest for any chance I have of navigating Edline.  

If you do not have internet access to schedule Parent-Teacher Conferences, please feel free to call the BHS office (617-993-5901) to schedule the conferences.

That’s it!  I will call them and tell them I have no internet.

Nah, I hate to lie.

All is lost, after all. What to do, what to do?

After taking a few moments to calm my stressed soul, I call to my husband:

“Kevin?”

He looks over expectantly.

“I need you to do something for me …”