As the first quarter of the 2020 school year comes to a close on October 30th, teachers and parents are preparing for parent/teacher conferences on November 4th. 

Conferences are normally held in-person. However, due to COVID-19, Arrowhead Administration believes meeting face-to-face, even with masks, is too big of a risk.

Because of the guidelines regarding in-person contact, the conferences have moved online into scheduled Zoom meetings. 

Parents sign up on Skyward for a particular class their child is in and they will meet with the teacher for five minutes. When that time is up, they will sign off and the next parent will join for their time.

Teachers sent out emails and Skyalerts with detailed instructions on how to sign up. Directions are as follows: After logging into Skyward under Family Access, select Conferences on the lower left of the screen. You will click the words “All Conferences”. There you will see a list of your child’s classes that are available for a conference. 

To schedule a conference, click “Select a Time” under the Status column and left of the class name. Click the “Select” next to the desired time, then review and save your Time Slot message. This process will be repeated for all desired classes.

To make sure the process was successful, you can select “View Scheduled Times” to confirm. You may also print the list of conferences. 

As a reminder, be careful not to double-book a conference with another class. Also, teachers ask that parents come prepared with questions so as not to dawdle with the slim five minutes they are given. 

Rick Witte, Arrowhead’s basketball coach and math teacher, says he isn’t concerned with mix-ups, knowing the process is about trial and error. He also isn’t worried about the short five-minute mark he has to speak, insisting that if there isn’t enough time they can schedule another call.

Witte says he’s confident the conferences will run smoothly. “The people with whom I work are flat out amazing! We continue to find a way to make it work for the community even under these abnormal circumstances. So, I have no doubt we will make the best of this platform for conferences.”