Welcome Parents!
By Patricia Seto, Staff Writer
Despite the amount of time spent by Galileo staff members planning the Back to School Night on Monday, September 21, 2009, there wasn’t a big turnout, possibly because of last minute change of the dates. However, the parents that did show up felt that they got a lot of out of the event.
Although Back to School night is usually held on Tuesdays, this year, it was moved up to Monday because of conflicting teacher schedules. Originally, it was suppose to be held on the 23rd, but since Wednesday is a block day, some teachers don’t have classes and it would be hard for them to be available to stay so the staff made the decision to switch the dates.
Ms. Karin Lau, the parent support coordinator at Galileo, has been in charge of the event for many years, so it only took her about two weeks to get the event planned and organized. However, she felt that the number of parents that showed up wasn’t enough. Even though many teachers offered extra credit to students who brought their parents, there wasn’t much to show for it. She states, “Every year it is a challenge to get more parents to attend. This year we only had 300-400 parents that showed up which is only about 15% of the student population.”
Of the parents that did attend, Ms. Lau feels that they got a lot out of it and learned a lot more about what Galileo has to offer. The difference this year was the school loop training, which is a way for parents to keep track of their child’s progress on the internet.
Many of the parents who attended the training felt that it was easy to use and agood way for them to keep track of their child’s progress. Kamron Beikzadeh, father of freshmen Armand Beikzadeh, states, “School Loop is very helpful. It helps me keep track of my son’s progress, attendance, grades – everything.”
The administration also felt that the school loop training was very useful and informative. Ms. Pringle, the assistant principal adds, “It gives the parents an opportunity to get involved. I would recommend that we have more training in the future.”
Parents were also given a chance during the evening to visit and meet teachers in order to get a sense of what the class is learning as well as their child’s progress in that class. Many parents found the information very informative and helpful in understanding what their child’s classes are about. Sandra Lee, mother of senior, Patricia Lee, states, “It’s great how parents get to know what is going on with their child as well as with the school.”
Overall, the staff was happy with the success of the event. However, there are things they would change for next year. Ms. Lau felt that many volunteers that signed up to help with the event didn’t show up and it made for a last minute scramble to get everything set up in time. She states, “Next year, I would like to make sure that the volunteers that sign up actually come because they cannot just leave us without any help like that. I was lucky to have the counselors and JROTC there to bail me out and lend a hand.”