By Staff
CONFERENCE DAY Trisha Harper, left, a fifth-grade teacher at Poplar Springs Elementary School, speaks with Kim Watkins, Kaylee Watkins' mother, about her daughter's classwork since January. Classes were dismissed Monday in both Meridian and Lauderdale County so that teachers could meet with parents. Photo by Kyle Carter/The Meridian Star
By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
March 30, 2004
Kim Watkins of Meridian attended parent conference day Monday at Poplar Springs Elementary School to find out more than just her daughter's grades.
In Lauderdale County, Saundra Snyder attended parent conference day at Northeast High School to see if her son has any weaknesses in his classes.
Public schools in Meridian and Lauderdale County had no classes Monday so teachers could meet and talk in person with parents about their children's grades, behavior and participation.
Meridian teachers gave out report cards during the conferences; Lauderdale County students received their report cards last week.
Joe Coxwell, a 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade chemistry teacher at Northeast Lauderdale High School, said it's difficult to get parents involved when students get to high school.
Coxwell said most parents who attended conferences were only interested in whether "their kid is going to pass class and that is both encouraging and discouraging."
But some teachers in Meridian and Lauderdale County saw almost all of their students' parents.
Triplett said most of her students' parents want to know if their child has mastered the benchmarks that will be on the Mississippi Curriculum Test a standardized test that gauges student ability in language, math and reading.
Students in the second- through the eighth-grades take the MCT.
Triplett also said parents are interested in upcoming events at the school and how they can help students at home.