CUSD Urged to Rethink Parent-Teacher Conference Dates

The best time to hold parent-teacher conferences is right before winter break, the Capistrano Unified School District Board of Trustees decided in December, but one trustee is already regretting the decision.

Jack Brick has asked that his fellow trustees revisit that decision at their next meeting, Monday.

“This was a classic case. We made a mistake; we made an error,” Brick said June 27, in rare comments to the board.

. Trustees went with its recommendation, pushing the sessions from November to December to allow more teaching time in November.

Even though the original decision was approved 5-2, with trustees John Alpay and Gary Pritchard dissenting, this time around, the trustees voted 4-3 to put the matter back on the agenda, with trustees Lynn Hatton, Ellen Addonizio and Sue Palazzo opposed.

To revisit an already approved agenda item, a trustee must offer “new and relevant information,” according to board policy provided in the June 27 agenda packet.

Brick didn’t offer any changes since the December vote. He just said it was a mistake. Because school districts are paid based on average daily attendance, Capo is likely to lose funding when too many families decide to travel early for the winter holiday, he said.

“How much of the ADA are we going to lose,” Brick asked. He added that the decision "hurt the teachers."

Addonizio, who along with Hatton worked on the committee with representative teachers, noted that the members “went through quite a bit to get to this result. I think the decision was made was fine at the time.”

However, she said it would make sense for the board to revisit the timing of the parent-teacher conferences after the Nov. 6 election. At that point, officials will know whether has passed and whether the district will .

Palazzo agreed, adding that if the board negates its committees’ suggestions, “that’s not setting a good precedent for us.”

Trustee Anna Bryson, who was one of the original supporters of the change, said she was willing to discuss switching back to the November conferences. And Alpay agreed.

“There has been some controversy about this decision. I don’t see any harm of agendizing it,” he said.

The board meets at 7 p.m. Monday at the district headquarters, 33122 Valle Road, San Juan Capistrano.