Letter: Parent-teacher conferences not a priority

Friday, Oct. 5, 2001 | 9:05 a.m.

I have always believed that parents have the right to know what their children are doing in school, and that one of my paramount professional responsibilities was to meet with them. I even thought that my employers, the members of the Board of Trustees of Clark County School District, thought so, too.

After all, they provided time within my paid workday for conferences to take place. Of course, not all parents can attend during the school day; so, believing in the importance of face-to-face meetings, I cheerfully volunteered my time to meet with parents as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 7 p.m. Thus, when I was informed that parent-teacher conference days would not be held at my school this year, I was surprised and disturbed.

I am disheartened to learn from Dr. Edward Goldman, southeast regional superintendent for the Clark County School District, as quoted in your Sept. 14 article, that only about 10 people felt the issue was urgent enough to call him. I was also surprised to learn that the "en masse" conferences that the district has supported for years only lasted 5 to 10 minutes. The conferences I participated in were always scheduled for 20 minutes or more.

It is interesting to note that school district officials were quoted in your article as saying that the conferences consumed about two days of instructional time. That amount of time divided by a class average of 28 students allows about 20 minutes for each conference. Hmmmm?! Is there a contradiction here?

I must suppose that parent-teacher conferences have shifted in priority in the minds of my employers, and are no longer considered important enough to merit a commitment of time and resources on the part of the school district.

Have they now become one of those educational "extras" that some good teachers supply or facilitate from their own personal funds and time? It would seem so.

MARTHA GILL