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Strollerderby
Jail Time for Missing a Teacher Conference? Really?
In an effort to get parents to “take an interest” in their child’s education, a prosecutor in Detroit is developing an ordinance that could land some parents in jail — or stick them with a hefty fine. Is an over-the-top punishment really the best way — or even an adequate way — to get parents to step foot in school for a teacher conference?
I think not.
Wayne County prosecutor Kim Worthy issued a statement saying that her goal isn’t to lock up parents and guardians; rather, she’s using the law to give them an incentive to show up to at least one meeting per year.
Really? An incentive? Seems like their offers of $25,000 of Target gift cards might go a little further. And also? How about making the school a less hostile and more welcoming place? Unfortunately — and to the detriment of generations — school has been a negative, punitive place for many, many people. It’s a place where they have zero good associations, where as kids they suffered punishment, experienced failure. Where they got out as fast as they could. Even as adults, some people are, simply put, scared of schools. Equating them with jail time will hardly solve that.
Instead — whether it’s convenient or not, fair or not, the way you lead your life or not — schools have to meet the parents where they’re at. Parent-teacher conferences first and foremost have to be scheduled at times these slacker parents can come. There needs to be childcare for siblings. There needs to be less top down telling and more back-and-forth discussion. These conferences need to last more than 10 minutes, if necessary. Every year, I come across tips for successful parent-teacher conferences and they all include the idea that the parent needs to sit and listen and really not say much (outside of a few questions prepared in advance — short and sweet). These meetings need to include something positive — they just have to.
No, I don’t envy teachers. No, I can’t imagine ever bailing on a parent-teacher conference. But my own experiences as a former child-student and now as the parent of some have always been quite positive and affirming. I have no reason to fear teachers and principals. I’ve never felt compelled to avoid them. And, no, I don’t think my school experience is universal.
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[...] Missing a Teacher Conference May Land Parents in Jail [...]
Now Babies are Getting Too Much Vitamin D | Strollerderby commented on Jun 16 10 at 3:04 pmMaria McKenna commented on Jun 16 10 at 2:12 pmI rarely comment on anything online but that is the most absurd thing I have ever heard. Instead of figuring out positive ways for parents to be engaged in a school this is what people think of as a good idea??? No thought to the fact that the children are infinitely better off with parents in a home instead of jail. No thought to the fact that our court and prision system is overburdened as it is. No thought to the fact that some parents cannot in fact get off work/school to come to conferences however far in advance they are planned with some employers. No thought to the fact that many parents are completely hesitant to go into schools and classrooms because of their own negative school experiences. No thought to the fact that coercive measures in almost all circumstances create negative outcomes rather than positive ones. Simply an astronomically bad idea on all fronts. Signed, PhD in Education
PlumbLucky commented on Jun 16 10 at 3:57 pmBeing from the surrounding area: yes, this is the state that DPS is in. A graduation rate that is abysmal at best. An awful majority of children testing positive for high blood lead levels. A huge number qualifying for reduced or free meals. A large majority of parent(s) living in poverty and/or unemployed. Not even going to guess the percentage of single parent households, truancy rates, etc. etc. etc. I suspect this may be more of a grand “throwing up of hands” in an effort to get someone to care about these children…far too often, it seems that nobody does. Heck, only within the past year has someone been put in charge who has actually looked into the corruption that is rampant in the district at the administrative levels.
Do I like this thinking? Not really. Are people really at their wits end about this, trying to find carrots to get people to care about their children? Probably. Maybe they’ve given up trying to find carrots because sticks get better results.
And yes, just to clear it up, I think it ridiculous. I also find it ridiculous that there are prizes and freebies on count day in DPS, but there are.
anon commented on Jun 16 10 at 5:29 pmwhat the hell is wrong with people?
PlumbLucky commented on Jun 17 10 at 7:40 amWant a summary of what’s wrong?
The people (parents) in this case who should give a rip don’t.
People (like the prosecutor, who in a roundabout way winds up dealing with it through the criminal justice system) who really can’t have much of a say or way to force them to, is trying to.
Manjari commented on Jun 17 10 at 9:15 amWhen I taught Kindergarten in Philadelphia, about a 4th of the parents never showed up for conferences at all. These same parents would wear pajamas when picking up their kids, and the reason they couldn’t come to report card conferences was because they couldn’t miss their soap operas.
Bec commented on Jun 17 10 at 10:08 amWow, so we’re going to assert that these parents JUST DON’T CARE ABOUT THEIR KIDS? I’m sorry to see that Babble has become just another place for the privileged to look down their noses at people struggling. There couldn’t possibly be any other reasons for this, not even the ones examined in the post. And it couldn’t be that some parents have less resources, less information and know how, and might be making “the wrong” choices for any non-malicious reasons. These parents just don’t care. Huh.
Manjari commented on Jun 17 10 at 10:19 amBec, I know from experience that SOME parents (across all income levels) really don’t care. It would be nice if all parents were good parents, but that’s not the reality. I have personally witnessed gross neglect of young children. It happens. It’s not classist to say so. And I wasn’t guessing why parents didn’t show up for conferences. I asked a mom why she didn’t make her appointment, and she informed me that it was at the same time as her soap. Some people should probably not be parents.
Zev Schonberg commented on Jun 18 10 at 5:17 amI really believe that if it were easier for parents to control their schedule, they would not be skipping the meetings. Online scheduling software would make it so much simpler for the school…and for the super-busy parents. Check out this blog post with more info on parent-teacher scheduling software http://globaldialect.blogspot.com/2010/01/parent-teacher-conference-scheduling.html
Dave Andrews commented on Jun 18 10 at 8:46 amWow! This is over the top.
One of the biggest problems in the parent-teacher conference that you have highlighted on is the horrible way they are scheduled for teachers and parents alike.
Maybe if more schools adopted a parent-teacher conference scheduling system for the parents then more parents would show up.
There was a case study done for an Illinois High School with about 4000 students. When they tried to schedule by hand, they had 800 parents attend. Then one year they used a scheduling program called PTC Wizard (http://www.ptcwizard.com) and that year over 3000 parents attended.
In my opinion, it is much more effective to make attending parent-teacher conferences more pleasant rather than punish those who do not wish to attend.
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