Back to School Night: where parents become students

Parents arrived at San Dieguito Academy for Back to School Night, where they had the opportunity to meet teachers and learn about their student’s classes on Wednesday night. 

Teachers prepared presentations, handouts, and greetings to present the parents with in order to inform them about what students will do in their class. Biology teacher Cathy Romas remarks that Back to School Night is “a good way to give parents an overview of what [a] class is like, [and] also gives a feel of who their kids are spending an hour and a half with everyday.”

Physical education teacher Robin Etheridge presents her class to parents “exactly how [she portrays] it to students, [and is] just as goofy with parents as with the kids.” In order to make parents feel more comfortable, Etheridge says a personal introduction is the most vital element to her presentation, and remarks that “parents want to know, ‘who is this clown teaching my kids?’”

Parents are highly encouraged to attend Back to School Night, and math teacher Jacqueline Parks thinks that “it is important for students, parents, and teachers to work together as a team and it gives them an opportunity to see what the atmosphere of the classroom is like.” Biology teacher Stacy Biblen wants students to know “that their teachers and their parents are all on the same team,” she said. “[Parents and teachers] have [an] open line of communication, and the whole purpose of that is to support [students] in their learning.”

Back To School Night seemed to be the most successful for parents, however. Parents had the opportunity to visit their student’s classrooms and meet their teachers. They also got a chance to tour the school and learn their child’s environment better. “As a new parent, I learned a lot,” said Liza Blue. “There’s so much you learn about how the school operates, what the classrooms look like, what the expectations are, [everything] comes through on a night like BTSN.”

Contributions by Ben Fraser, Makayla Gonzales, Lynn Nguyen, Sydney Randolph, Olivia Silvester, and Addie Werbelow.