RANT: Why do schools schedule everything at 2pm on weekdays?

Dec 31·1 min read

Third-grade parent-teacher conference. 2pm on a Thursday. DURING A WORKDAY. How is this still a thing? Why can't schools do evening conferences or weekends? My company gives us 'flexibility' but taking 90 minutes off to drive across town, sit in a parking lot, and have a 15-minute meeting about how my son needs to focus better... it's infuriating.

And then I come back to 47 Slack messages. Anyway. Just needed to complain about this archaic system. /rant

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Comments(5)

TTyler M.New DadJan 2

This drives me insane too. I work 45 minutes away so by the time I get there it's almost pointless. Why can't they do 7am before school or 4:30pm after? Those are literally the only times that work for working parents.

RRobert T.RegularJan 3

The school secretary told me they schedule at 2pm because it's 'convenient for the teachers.' Apparently teacher convenience is more important than the economic reality that most families have two working parents now.

PPaul K.New DadJan 3

2pm is literally peak school hours. I had to take a half day off last month for the same thing and my manager wasn't thrilled about it. Have you tried asking if they do any evening conferences? Our school switched to one night per year specifically because of complaints like this.

JJosh M.New DadJan 3

Pro tip: ask to do a phone or video call instead. Our third grader's teacher was totally cool with a 15-minute Zoom call during my lunch break. Saved me having to leave the office.

JJoel F.RegularJan 1

Some schools are finally waking up to this but yeah most of them still think all parents are home at 2pm. Have you checked if your school does any online conferences? At least then you're not losing 2 hours to travel time.