A Time to Talk: Parent-Teacher Conferences Extended for Coming School Year

Elementary students in the will get two extra minimum days this coming school year to accommodate parent-teacher conferences, the board of trustees decided Monday when it approved the 2011-12 school calendar.

With the increased class sizes caused by a , teachers found they didn’t have enough time last year to spend with each parent, said Julie Hatchel, assistant superintendent of education services.

Teachers calculated that their conference time was cut 45 percent, Hatchel said. Previous years averaged 26 minutes per parent meeting; last year’s averaged 15 minutes.

“There’s a lot of confusion around the report cards, what it means, what the numbers are,” said Sally White, a fifth-grade teacher at  in Laguna Niguel and first vice president of the teachers’ union, Capistrano Unified Education Association. “The report card requires good face-to-face discussion, and you can’t do that in 15 minutes.”

This past school year, elementary children had one day off and three minimum days for the fall semester, parent-conference week and four minimum days for the parent conferences in spring, which are optional.

The approved calendar for 2011-12 features one day off and four minimum days for fall and five minimum days in spring. Students lose three hours more of instructional time than they did last year to accommodate the extra time for conferences. A committee composed of principals, district administrators, teachers and parents proposed the changes.

The calendar passed 5-1, with Trustee Ellen Addonizio opposing and Trustee Sue Palazzo absent. District spokesman Marcus Walton said he did not know the reason for Palazzo’s absence.

Addonizio said parents complain to her more about too many half-days  than any other issue. And Trustee John Alpay, who is also a parent in the district, said families with two working parents find having “multiple minimum days is not always optimal.”

Alpay suggested that instead of an extra minimum day, the schools could offer another full day off.

Hatchel responded that it’s possible but that the district would lose funding for the day. California schools are paid for their average daily attendance. Minimum days count as an instructional day for which schools can receive money, but student-free, parent-teacher conference days do not.

Additionally, the district has found that families with elementary students and older students tend to pull their middle-school students out of school on days the elementary-aged siblings have off, which also hurts the district’s average-daily-attendance numbers, Hatchel said.

However, before the last school year, elementary students had two full days off and two minimum days during the fall semester, parent-conference week and five minimum days in spring, according to calendars found online.

Vice President Gary Pritchard, who chairs the meetings, said parents he talks to say the opposite of those who talk to Addonizio. They want more time with teachers during conference week. And losing three hours of instructional time is not “going to disrupt the teaching in any meaningful way.”