Hello, Gorham K-5 Parents!
It is just about time for our Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences! Here is some important information for you to have:
WHAT: The general purpose of our conferences is for you to connect with your child’s teacher, as well as obtain an update on your child’s 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 for conferences, it is understood that issues that are private and confidential require a different forum for communication. It is expected that issues that are of 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 a two-week window. We are allocating the evening of Wednesday, October 19th, and the day of Friday, October 21st for K-5 conferences. Outside of these two dates, the available dates and times may vary depending on the teacher. You will be able to register for your child’s conference beginning on Wednesday, October 5th. Parents will have a choice to attend conferences in person on the school campus or virtually through zoom and should note their preference on the sign-up.
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 will be sending 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.
Step 1: You will receive a letter or email from your child’s teacher containing a link to the class’ conference website. Enter the link into your browser.
Step 2: Enter the class code your child’s teacher has sent to you into the box on that screen- you can copy and paste it if that's easier!
Step 3: You will see the list of available time slots your child’s teacher has available. If someone else has already selected a time slot, you won’t be able to check the box and the time slot will be red. Check the time you would like for your conference and enter it in the comment section if you prefer in person or virtual. Reminder emails will be sent out closer to the conference.
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. The Gorham Schools take pride in having a very high participation rate in Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences. We appreciate your flexibility and know the experience for you and your child will be a great one!
Sincerely,
Becky Fortier, Great Falls Principal
Jodi Mezzanotte, Village Principal
Erin Eppler, Narragansett Principal
