Patch reader Tim described schools as being like a black box to new parents. With the busy schedules of both parents and teachers, communicating is always a challenge. It is even tougher this year.

A 30-minute Back to School Night session is held in each elementary classroom toward the beginning of the school year. There's a lot to cover during this time: state standards, classroom procedures and expectations, homework policies, volunteer needs, a pitch to join the PTA. 

The time to confer about an individual child is the parent-teacher conference. This year, because of budget cuts, there are several furlough days for West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers. One of those is the full day in early November set aside for elementary school parent conferences.

In the past, teachers had this full day plus several chunks of time following minimum-day dismissals for scheduling 15- to 20-minute conferences with the parents of each of their students, up to 33 per class. Now, the only time dedicated to parent conferences is following dismissal on five minimum days, Nov. 1 to 5, when students will be dismissed 35 minutes early.

School board member Charles Ramsey of El Cerrito says the board members were forced to make tough choices in the face of a $32 million budget cut from the state and were committed to preserving instructional time.

Adds fellow board member Madeline Kronenberg, also an El Cerrito resident,  "Cutting it (instructional time) at all, to me, can only place our students at an even greater disadvantage -- with even less time to be exposed to the curriculum.There is no easy way to make up for the budget cutbacks we have faced -- we simply can't do 'business as usual' with dramatically less funding."

 What will it look like at your child's school?

A letter to parents from the teachers' union and Ann Reinhagen, assistant superintendent for human resources, says the priority for individual meetings will be for children performing below grade level. Other possible approaches, the letter says,  are "Meeting with groups of parents whose students are progressing well on the grade level standards and explain the report cards," "Hosting a parent assembly for varied grade levels to review grade level work and discuss the report card," and  "Having parent/teacher phone conferences." (The letter is attached to this column.)

In reality, just how the conferences will be scheduled varies from school to school and classroom to classroom.

Principal Galen Murphy says some teachers at Fairmont Elementary in El Cerrito started holding conferences in October, rather than waiting for the Nov. 1 to 5  minimum days. Meetings already planned with some parents because of special concerns or legal requirements are being counted as the parent conference, instead of having a separate meeting.

Linda Geiser, who has a fourth grader at Madera Elementary School, says the teachers there are being accommodating in scheduling conferences, including setting up telephone conferences.  Geiser, who is president of the PTA, says that group agreed to help pay for substitutes to allow the teachers more time for conferences.

One advantage of this year's schedule over the normal practice, she says, is that with an after-school appointment child care is easier to arrange.

To make the most of the time available, a school district/union letter to teachers recommends having some information in writing ready to give to parents. PTA has for many years advised parents to come prepared as well, with topics or questions in mind, as well as information about their children they want to share with the teacher.   

 What happens when it isn't conference time?

Obviously, one 15- or 20-minute conference in early November may not be enough. So when else is there time for parents and teachers to communicate?  

In our district, once the children enter an elementary classroom, the breaks for teachers are a 20-minute recess (or two 10-minute ones) and a 40-minute lunch break each day, plus 100 minutes of "prep" time (to prepare lessons) a week. We often have yard duty for 10 minutes of the recess, and all of these periods can be further shaved down by the need to get students to where they are going, or discuss a concern individually with a child. The rest of the time is a flurry of rushing to the restroom, eating lunch, having hurried conversations in passing with colleagues, and copying materials and other preparation for and cleanup after lessons.

Before school and right after school can look a lot like the other breaks, trying to talk to a parent or a colleague at the same time you're walking to the bathroom or the copy room, setting up for a lesson that will start in a few minutes, or cleaning up after one that has just finished.

Parents want very much to help their children do well in school, but their schedules are crazy, too. Teachers have a lot of information that could help them, thus making our jobs easier. It's just there isn't enough time built into the system and it's especially bad this year.