The Goessel school board met on November 11 and heard from superintendent/elementary school principal Dr. John Fast that elementary school teachers had 100 percent contact with parents for parent-teacher meetings on October 24. Only four were contacted by phone instead of in-person meetings. Therefore, all students were represented.
“That kind of parent involvement is important,” Fast said.
Junior high/high school principal Scott Boden told the board that 98 percent of the junior high and high school students were represented by parents at the parent-teacher meetings, which are now “student-led.” Board member Ben Schrag asked if parent participation has increased now that the meetings are led by students. Boden said participation did go up; it had been 68 percent in the past. However, with the current format, participation rose to 98 percent. He said parents don’t have to wait as long now. Sometimes parents had to wait 45 minutes to an hour to meet with some teachers in the past. Boden said that if parents can’t visit with all of the teachers at the meetings the way they are currently structured, parents and teachers do communicate through email.
(Read more: Hillsboro Free Press)