Madison Teachers, Inc. Solidarity Newsletter (PDF), via a kind Jeanie Kamholtz email:

As a result of a joint MTI-MMSD committee on parent- teacher conferences, several changes were agreed upon. For the first time, teachers participating in evening parent-teacher conferences were provided a compensatory day off, which occurred last November 26. In exchange for the comp day, teachers must have conferences on two (2) evenings. For elementary teachers, the fall conferences occurred on November 19. The spring conference will occur on March 19. Conferences are in lieu of report cards, and staff are not required to do additional record-keeping beyond normal data collection and logging parent attendance at conferences. Conferences are recommended to be 15 minutes.

The joint MTI/MMSD committee agreed that the best use of time is to distribute any forms and information at other times and through other means, so teachers can spend all conference time reviewing student progress. The joint committee also agreed that conferences may occur at other than the scheduled times, if agreed between the parent and teacher.

Pursuant to Section V-M of the MTI/MMSD Collective Bargaining Agreement, in recognition of 4K, non-Sage 2nd grade, non-Sage 3rd grade, 4th grade and 5th grade teachers having more parent-teacher conferences due to increased class size shall be excused from the early release SIP-aligned activities on Mondays during the month of November and March.

Complete language regarding parent-teacher conferences can be found on MTI’s website (www.madisonteachers.org). Teachers who have further questions can call or email Eve Degen (degene@madisonteachers.org) at MTI headquarters.