Spring Conferences

 

March 8, 2021

Hello, Great Falls Parents!

It is time for our virtual Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences! Here is some important information for you to have:

WHAT: The general purpose of our virtual conferences is to connect with your child’s teacher, as well as obtain an update on academic progress and “skills for life.” These progress checks may include student sharing of their work products, goal setting, and the presentation of other assessments and work by the student or teacher. As your child will be present, it is understood that issues that are private and confidential require a different forum for communication. It is expected that issues that are of a serious concern would have been discussed prior to and outside of these conferences. IEP meetings, even in close proximity to conference dates, do not take the place of student-led conferences. 

WHEN: Conferences are held throughout the next two weeks and during the full day of Friday, March 12th. March 12th is reserved for conferences and is not counted as a student school day. The available dates and times during this window vary depending on the teacher. 

 

HOW: The PTCfast online program is used for scheduling conferences unless teachers know that there is a family who does not have Internet access at home.  Teachers sent out notices and passwords for parents to use to set up conferences. The procedure is user-friendly and quite efficient, especially when a family has more than one child in our school.  This program allows you a maximum choice in dates and times, choosing the one that works best for your schedule. When you pick a day and time, you will receive a confirmation and a reminder prior to the conference. If you need to change the date and/or time, you simply return to the site and do so, unless it is beyond the cutoff time selected by the classroom teacher. 

Please make sure to contact us if you run into any difficulty with this process.  We don’t anticipate that you will, but we are, of course, happy to help. Great Falls takes pride in having a very high participation rate in Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences.  Although we would prefer to have you on campus, we appreciate your flexibility and know the experience for you and your child will be a great one! 

Don’t forget that our Scholastic Book Fair is up and running. Check out the online store at Great Falls Spring Book Fair. Have a great conference experience! 

 

Sincerely,

Becky Fortier

Great Falls Principal