Purple Press
School tries new approach for "Back to School"Wednesday, September 01, 2010 By Colbi Osborne & Haley Summers
On Thursday August 26, 2010, Astoria Schools held an event called “Back To School Night.” Usually every year it’s a similar event called “Open House,” but K-8 principal Dave Crouse had an idea that they should add a little twist and a bit more structure to it. Instead of just coming to school and wandering around aimlessly, the parents were to follow their child’s schedule, traveling class to class. This change was meant to help each parent meet every teacher, instead of just a few. From 6 to 6:35 high school and junior high students and their parents attended classes for approximately 4-5 minutes. Then at 6:35 elementary students and their parents met with teachers. Attendance for this year was about the same as any other year. Almost every parent and student came throughout the younger grades (K-1, 2, 3 and so on) but as the grades get higher, the number of parents declines. “It was just as I expected,” stated Chet Lien, high school principal and district superintendent. With this new and improved “Back To School Night,” the faculty and staff were hoping to get more parents into the building and more importantly getting them to meet more teachers, learn of all the classroom expectations, and meet other parents just like them. |