Kearny High’s teachers are always eager to meet their students’ parents, but how will parent-teacher conferences work in the midst of virtual learning? This is what teachers have to say about virtual conferences.

Planet Earth Honors and Physical Science teacher Ms. Linda Glickstein was kind enough to answer some questions about her experience with the conferences. She said that her classes had an average of three to four parents per class. She shared that she did not receive as many appointments as she was hoping for and was even stood up by one parent. Despite the obvious frustration, Ms. Glickstein said that “the one-on-one conferences felt very personal as parents were in their homes rather than in rooms with people around.”

Cooking Basics, Global Cuisine, and Baking teacher, Chef Jessica Barone, also agreed to talk about her experience. She said that there were more parents making one-on-one conferences. For her, the number of parents attending conferences “was only slightly less than a typical year.” She feels this is the case because “the ability for parents to use Genesis and email to keep track of their children’s school progress has decreased the need for parents to meet with teachers in person.”

New teacher on the business department, Mr. John Policano also answered some questions regarding his experience. Mr. Policano teaches finance, economics, and marketing. He said that the number of parents and students attending the overall meeting and one-on-one conferences was about the same. Mr. Policano said he very much enjoyed getting to know the parents. He has worked in the corporate world, so he “is very accustomed to this technology” and believes it is important to build “a strong working relationship with all of the parents.”