Manhattan High School is seeing a major decline in participation at Parent Teacher Conferences.

Attendance among parents of MHS students earlier this month at Student Led Conferences was the lowest it’s been for any type of conference — as far back as the data goes. Participation at SLC in particular has plummeted by 10% in just two years. Only 23.59% of students were represented by one or more parents this year, Feb. 3 and 5. A drop from 33.69% in 2024. Out of the 1,975 students at MHS, a mere 466 were represented at the recent SLC. Of that were 160 freshman, 151 sophomores, 101 juniors and 54 seniors. 

Now, I’m not surprised that few parents of seniors came to conferences, as many seniors are already adults, but the drop off of 50 from sophomore year to junior year sticks out.

Are parent teacher conferences worth going to any more?

Here’s the deal, although I’m annoyed that my own parents have shown up to every parent teacher conference since I was a kindergartener, I do think conferences are important for all three parties: teachers, parents and the student. 

Students with perfect, sparkly grade cards, impeccable attendance and outstanding behavior probably don’t benefit much from conferences, but most students are going to have some area that they need at least a little help in. Communication between at least a parent and a teacher is necessary in finding solutions for students. During PTC sessions, teachers have the chance to learn about parts of a student’s life that they wouldn’t otherwise know, which helps teachers to understand their students and cater things to them. Parents also get the chance to learn about the teacher’s expectations. And students can hopefully come away with at least one strategy or plan to improve in some area. 

In fall of 2020, 52.36% of students were represented by one or more parents at conferences. I can only assume, based on what was going on in the world at that time, that PTCs were done online, via Zoom, making for upped attendance. I think that having conferences as a video call should always remain an option, because it seems many parents either are too busy to show up to school, which is understandable, or just prefer doing it from the comfort of their own home.

You never know what you might learn at PTCs. It can really help. So just show up!

That being said, Mom and Dad, please take a year off of going to my conferences next year. I’ll be a senior.