We just finished our two nights of parents conferences. I must say, as a teacher it had a total different feeling than being an AP. As part of the admin team, we walk around, up and down, all through the hallways making sure everything and everyone is fine. Looking into classrooms and being able to read my staff’s facial expressions and giving them a thumbs up was a great a feeling. One advice my principal gave me was to keep a pen and post it with me to jot down parent’s complaints/requests. For the whole night we never sat in our offices as we wanted to be visible to the parents and staff. At one point, we got four staff members asking us to roam around their area at a specific time when those “difficult” parents came in. So we made sure we were there for them, checking in on them and making sure their conference went smoothly. I didn’t know we had so many difficult parents that staff needed us there just for comfort. Being a teacher you are not aware of what is happening in other classes or grades or how parents are except your own 23 parents. .
The first hour passed and there was not one complaint! YAAAY. My yellow post it was empty woohoo!! Then the second and third hour was just the same. Everyone was smiling, complementing and speaking highly about our staff. PHEW! Our night was a success. I didn’t sit down for 5 minutes! I was all over the place and when I would cross paths with my principal, we would check in with each other for 5 minutes to compare notes and continue walking, smiling and checking up on everyone.
Coming to work the next day with 4 interviews to do, meetings to attend and staff to check up on was truly exhausting, my goodness! Day 2 of PT conferences was another success, my post it was still empty. NO complaints!! Parents were smiling, less staff needing us to roam their hallways and all just went smoothly. To continue smiling and making small talk was hard and tiring. However, I managed and enjoyed it, despite it being exhausting and not being able to sit for more than 3 minutes before someone wanting you or calling your name. It was worth it for as long as our staff and parents were happy.
As admin what do you do during PT conferences? Are you in your offices from beginning to end? Would love to know.
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