TOWAMENCIN- North Penn High School welcomed hundreds of parents to walk in the student’s shoes for a night on Thursday, September 19th, inviting them to spend time navigating the many halls of the building and to get to know their children’s teachers at the second in-person back to school night since 2019. 

At 7:00 pm, parents made their way to classes and started their night just as students start their day: by reciting the pledge of allegiance. After that, sitting in the seats of their children, parents listened to presentations where teachers shared their syllabuses, class expectations, and information about themselves. It’s a night that makes it easier for parents to converse with both teachers and their students at home. 

“You get that first connection and if there’s a need or you have a question, you know the person you’re reaching out to and can then set up another time to meet. Now you know who they are…so when you reach out, it’s a little more personal…I think it’s important for them to show their personality and their expectations, and just a little glimpse into what their class looks like, so that hopefully a parent can go back and have a conversation with their student that’s a little bit more informed,” Mr. Kyle Hassler, North Penn’s principal, commented on the teacher’s roles in back to school night. 

Back-to-school night is just as important for teachers as it is for parents. It provides an opportunity for them to connect and share their work ethic with families, and meet the parents in the same way they meet their students. 

“I love what I teach, I’m very excited. I’m just conveying my passion for the subject and my excitement for the class, and overall my teaching philosophy,” expressed Mr. Eric Lorandeau, a history teacher at North Penn. 

For the parents who couldn’t be here in person, North Penn offered an alternative; a virtual attendance option was a choice, developed during 2020 due to COVID-19, but kept due to convenience for parents who couldn’t attend. 

“It’s nice for parents who can’t make it… I’ll see parents, they’re nurses or they’re doctors, so they’re working, so with this option, they can go to the break room and listen, but they physically can’t be here,” shared Lorandeau. 

This year, the virtual option was non-interactive, meaning parents online were only able to watch and listen through a livestream. Many expressed that they preferred in-person as opposed to virtual; for parents, it’s easier to get a feel for the environment their children are in from inside the building. 

“You get to see the hallways and how long it takes to class. I always feel it’s better to see an interaction in person,” expressed a parent of a sophomore. 

Coming from Mr. Hassler, this parent wasn’t alone in thinking that experiencing the environment of the building is one of the greatest benefits of back-to-school night that you gain in person.

Additionally, it’s easier for teachers and parents to form connections and participate in conversation in person as opposed to through a screen. Hassler hopes to encourage in-person attendance by keeping the virtual option strictly streaming instead of interactive. 

“I did get some feedback that people had trouble because they had questions, and they weren’t there, so I think that if we keep it that way it will encourage people to come in person. I think if we’re really trying to focus on virtual we’ll have to open it back up to interactive…I believe we’ll keep it as streaming to encourage but also to offer it to people that can’t come. I’d personally love to see it just be in person” said Hassler. 

Since the virtual option was introduced, there has been a visible decline in in-person participation.

“I was a little disappointed, it seemed like a little bit less than last year. I think the virtual option had something to do with that…I was an assistant principal here in 2018-19, we had a lot more people. That was right before COVID-19. We have more every year now as we come back from COVID; I’d say we’re still not up to where we were before,” Hassler explained. 

In addition to dropping attendance and creating a challenge for parents to interact, the virtual option wasn’t all that easy for teachers either.

“I always panic a little bit…A little square on a screen, it can be hard to get anything across,” Mr. Keith Clauss, a North Penn health and physical education teacher, remarked. 

“You wonder if you’re making any sense, ‘cause you have less than 10 minutes…you’re just rambling on like a crazy person and you just hope you’re making sense and you communicated everything properly,” added Lorandeau. 

Back-to-school night is the longest night of the year for teachers, and new additions like the virtual option don’t always make it easier. However, at the end of the night, the relationships established between parents and teachers make it worth the work.

“We definitely see the impact that teachers make. Families will come up and say, “Can you let so-and-so know that my student was struggling, and they had their class, and it helped, or it inspired them to do something,’ and that’s why we do what we do, those are the reminders,” Hassler expressed.