Hundreds of Elmhurst Parents Rally to Reinstate, Keep Parent-Teacher Conferences in District 205

Hundreds of Elmhurst parents are expressing disappointment in an administrative decision to remove parent-teacher conferences from Sandburg Middle School and replace them with student-led evaluations.

SMS parents Deb Parkerson Casey and Jenn Toffler started the petition when they heard the news that the elimination of parent-teacher conferences would remain permanent through the 2017-18 school year.

“The concern is that what’s happening at Sandburg could have implications for how conferences are handled across the district,” Toffler said in a release. “Our hunch is that parents in District 205 value parent-teacher conferences and that they would be very unhappy if those conferences were eliminated in the rest of our schools.”

The pair’s release states that more than 270 signatures have already been collected in favor of reinstating and retaining the practice across District 205 schools.

“[The petition] asks residents to stand in favor of keeping parent-teacher conferences at their local schools,” the release reads. “For many, it’s a stand they never thought they’d have to take.”

In lieu of traditional conferences, Sandburg students presented what the school called “student-led conferences” last fall. The presentations consisted of students showing their parents a slideshow that covered topics like self-evaluation and goal-setting. A teacher is in the room at the time, but just to guide the conferences, the release states. They’re not there to offer feedback on the student’s performance in class.

“The student-led conference did not offer any opportunity to have a conversation with my child’s teachers,” Toffler said. “Sure, I can contact the teachers through email, but I find it very beneficial having that initial conversation each fall.”

Parkerson Casey said in the release that the change in practice could actually be a setback.

“Change that eliminates parent-teacher conferences does not achieve growth for our students,” she said. “On the contrary, it inhibits their growth by reducing communication between the two groups of adults most invested in their future: their parents and their teachers.”

They, as well as many of their petition-signers, have made a point to say they’re not against the idea of learner-centered cultures or student-led conferences, according to the release, but it’s not a replacement for traditional conferences.

“I would like to see us have student-led and traditional conferences,” Kevin Kramer, a parent of students at York, Sandburg and Hawthorne, said. “My child’s self-evaluation is not the same as the information I get from teachers during parent-teacher conferences. Both are valuable. I feel that a student-led conference could easily be handled at home.”

More than 40 percent of people who signed the petition have children at Sandburg.

“We are hoping that their voices are heard and a change can be made at Sandburg before next school year,” Parkerson Casey said. “We are interested in finding a creative solution to this issue that includes a structured time set aside for parents and teachers to meet with each other each fall.”

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Photo courtesy of Parkerson Casey and Toffler