Does anyone here on Free Republic think that having a parent-teacher conference with any of these so-called "teachers" would be worthwhile?
Answer: COMPLETE **WASTE** OF TIME!!! ( Yes, I am shouting.)
While our daughter was in Catholic school we went to every parent teacher conference. (She got glowing reviews and the teachers would point out her strong points and suggest she pursue them even more. Art and Writing.)
Last year in public school we got no notice of parent teacher conferences. We called the school and they said we would get a letter.
No letter ever came. Finally we found out the parent teacher conferences had all been held. We were confused so we contacted several of her teachers and they all told us she didn't need a conference those were only for problem students. I told them I wanted one anyway and they said it wasn't necessary and they didn't have time for students who didn't have problems. (Though the one Conservative teacher said we could meet at a local diner and he would answer any questions we had. He was pleased with her progress in English and said we should encourage her writing as much as possible)
I called the school and talked with the Principal told him I wanted to talk with my daughter's teachers at school meetings he said they only allowed so much after school time for teachers because of the rules. He said I should be glad that she didn't need a conference. I asked what rules and he told me the rules in the teachers contracts. See the rules state only some many hours can be devoted to parent teacher conferences at school. even if a teacher wants to meet more hours than the rules state they can't. (I still don't believe its in a contract but several people I've talked to claim it is in there.)
My problem with this situation is I want to take my measure of her teachers but apparently contact between parents and teachers is frowned upon in our local public school. This is quite a shock to us because in the Catholic school the obverse is frowned upon.
Also such meetings helped the parents rid the Catholic school of a horrible teacher who was constantly late to class and meetings who didn't manage to get half of her curriculum covered and who stood around in the office discussing her sex life during school hours with anyone who would listen including the priest. (She now teaches at the local public school)