Dear Parents/Guardians:

I strongly urge you that, if your child's progress report indicates that there is an interim grade of D or F, or if there are comments that behavior or study habits are affecting your child's learning, it is essential that you contact your child's teacher so that you can be an effective partner in supporting your child's achievement.

How can you communicate effectively with teachers?

In the past, CRLS has heavily relied on scheduled whole school fall and spring conferences to convey information to parents about students' academic progress in courses. I'd like to emphasize that, with email and Edline in place, these whole school conferences are still useful, but they are not the only means for monitoring your child's progress.

In fact, we have noticed that many parents have become less satisfied with the whole school conference approach, as it sometimes leads to frustration. They find that it is often exhausting to navigate the building, to sign up for conferences in advance, and that sometimes it is difficult to see some teachers because of the large number of parents who attend these afternoon or evening sessions which are limited to ten minutes only to meet the large demand.

As a result, I would like to reiterate the various other ways that you can monitor your child's progress:

By using your Edline account to see the assigned work

By emailing teachers directly

By arranging a telephone conference with a teacher for a specified time

By setting up an individual face-to-face appointment with a teacher (Call the LC Office or email the teacher directly)

By contacting your child's guidance counselor to convene a meeting of several of your child's teachers at

   once at a mutually agreeable time before, during, or after school.

When are the next school wide Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences?

If you do plan to come to the traditional school-wide conference sessions, they will be held on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 from 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. and Thursday, October 21, 2010 from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Please note that these conferences will all be held at the CRLS MAIN CAMPUS (not the 9^th grade campus) at 459 Broadway.

                If you plan to conference with teachers then, I strongly recommend that you bring your child with you so that he/she can be a partner in an important conversation about his/her progress.

Below you will find some helpful information suggested by fellow parents regarding  the school-wide conferences.  You may access a Teachers Directory by logging on to your child's Edline account.  If you need assistance with your child's Edline account, please e-mail:  edline-support@cpsd.us

Finally, limited parking may be available after 5:30 p.m. on October 22 in Harvard's Felton St. garage across from Broadway Market. 

Sincerely,

Christopher Saheed

         ^{TIPS FOR CRLS PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES}

• HAVE THE NAME (FIRST AND LAST) OF EACH TEACHER AND THE SUBJECT TAUGHT.

• CHECK THE ABSENT TEACHER LIST WHEN YOU ARRIVE.

• MAPS OF CRLS WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE MAIN ENTRANCE

• PLEASE BE SURE TO BRING YOUR CHILD'S ENCLOSED PROGRESS REPORT.

• INDIVIDUAL CONFERENCES WITH TEACHERS AND STAFF WILL BE HELD IN THEIR CLASSROOMS.

• EACH CONFERENCE SLOT LASTS FOR TEN MINUTES.

• SOME CLASSES ATTRACT MORE PARENTS THAN OTHERS.

• IT IS GENERALLY ADVISABLE TO GO AROUND TO ALL CLASSROOMS AND SIGN UP FOR ALL CONFERENCES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SESSION.

• IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO BRING YOUR STUDENT WITH YOU.

• IF YOU NEED TO SPEAK AT LENGTH TO A TEACHER/COUNSELOR; PLEASE FIND ANOTHER TIME TO DO IT.