Parent teacher conferences were once an important part of the school year, but with lack of attendance, many students believe that they are nothing more than a tradition.

Occurring at Biddeford High School twice a year, once in fall and once in spring, parent teacher conferences allow parents of students to come in and meet face-to-face with their son or daughter’s teachers and check in on how they are doing in school. However, in the past few years, parent teacher conference attendance at Biddeford doesn’t seem to be on all student’s to-do list. Students that are lowerclassmen, namely freshmen, have parents that attend more often than their upperclassmen schoolmates.

Many students believe that parent teacher conferences are simply a waste of time and do not attend. Sophomore Samuel Keating is among one of the students that does not feel like it is worth his time.

“Parent teacher conferences would be important, if you are not doing well in school,” said Keating. “But I don’t go because I don’t deem them important to me.”

Keating states that his parents are okay with his choice not to attend conferences telling him that they trust him when he says they do not need to attend.

“They would ask me ‘Do I need to go?’ to which I would reply ‘No, you don’t need to go,” Keating said.

Fellow sophomore Nicholas Gallant agrees slightly with Keating, saying that parent teacher conferences are only important for students who don’t do well in school.

“I think that it is a good idea if you have bad grades because then your parents can talk to your teachers and get you help and work,” Gallant said.

Gallant says that his dad does not go to parent teacher conferences unless he is misbehaving or getting bad grades.

“If the teachers contacted him, he’d feel the need to go, but if they don’t, he doesn’t feel the need to go,” Gallant said.

Gallant believes that one reason that students may not attend is because they have rackets to swing or laps to run.

“People wouldn’t go because they have sports at the same time,” Gallant said.

Baseball try-outs were just beginning with lacrosse, outdoor track, tennis, and softball already in full swing, practices made it hard for students to attend. However, sophomore Bradley Laverriere does not agree that sports are a reason to get out of it.

“Kids shouldn’t worry about sports much,” said Laverriere. “Even if that’s what they’re going to do in life, it’s not as important as school. They should keep school coming first.”

Laverriere believes that grades are very important, yet he admits that he and his parents do not attend parent teacher conferences either.

“I think they’re good to have, but if your parents already know your grades, you don’t need to go,” said Laverriere. “I keep my parents updated, so none of us think we need to go.”

Laverriere may not think that there are reasons to miss parent wax her conferences, but members of the Biddeford High School Band, such as senior Max Zakian, would disagree. The band had a pre-scheduled concert on the night that conferences were scheduled.

“The band concert happened during the parent teacher conferences,” Zakian said.

Zakian believes that the school did not do very well in planning their conferences as the band concert was set to be the same night.

“They had all the time in the world, they could do the conferences the next Thursday, but the band concert [was] concrete,” Zakian said.

Zakian did not even know that there was a conference. He claimed that he would have gone if he had not had the band concert and if it were advertised well.

“I didn’t even know there was a conference until the night of,”  Zakian said.

Many other students, including freshman Nick Escobedo, also had no idea that there was a conference that night due to lack of information. Unlike prior years, forms were not passed out but rather hanging outside of few teachers rooms. Also, there were no announcements about the conferences until the day of.

“I didn’t go because I didn’t know there was a parent teacher conference,” said Escobedo. “I would have gone if I had gotten a form or if there was an announcement about it.”

While many students did not attend the conferences, some students did. Junior Katrina Hussey said that she herself didn’t attend but her parents did and told her how fewer people attended in the spring.

“More parents went to the first one [in the fall] rather than the second one [in the spring],” Hussey said.

Hussey says that they are useful, but it is not planned very well in the interest of the students.

“The actual idea is good,” said Hussey. “But it’s not useful because they do not have enough times for all of the students to meet.”

Freshman Spencer Arnold also attended the conferences. He does believe they are very beneficial to students and their parents and all should attend.

“I think it’s a nice way of parents and teachers connecting,” said Arnold. “It also helps the parents help the student.”

Arnold claims that he enjoys going to conferences as he believes it benefits the student and teacher in making better communication between them.

“It is a really nice thing to do,” said Arnold. “But parents and students are not utilizing it to its full effectiveness.”

While most students seem to be hit or miss on the idea of conferences, most teachers believe they are extremely important. Social Science teacher Rebecca Auten believes that students should always go to conferences.

“It’s important that students attend, but most of them don’t know that they’re allowed to, I always try to advocate that they do attend.”

Despite her belief that students should always attend, there are some reasons that Auten believes are excuses not to attend.

“Some parents have complications with work,” said Auten. “I usually get a number of emails from parents saying they are unable to attend due to complications with their work schedule.”

Auten also notices a dropping of attendance in the spring conference versus the fall conference, believing that it is due to the schedule.

“There was a big decline in the spring, but I think it’s due to the rollover classes that go all year,” said Auten.

Students may not all attend parent teacher conference attendance, but it is agreed upon that if you aren’t doing well in school, it is important. However, teachers, especially Auten, believe that students should always attend and be involved in their education.

“Students in high school need to be involved in their grades and their education if they’re ever going to make it in life.”