Case
Hard to Reach Parents

Does anyone have any suggestions for hard to reach parents? I have tried emailing, calling, and sending notes home. Thanks!

Posted on: 10/09/16 | Views: 988
Solution #1
Top Solution
You may need to figure out the parents' schedules before trying to contact them. A lot of parents need to work two or three jobs in order to meet the needs of their families. It is in your best interest to determine their schedule before trying to make contact. I would send a form home with the students on the first day of school asking the parents to give a brief overview of their daily schedule. This will help you determine when would be the best time to reach the parents. If this still does not work, I would try to contact other family members of the child. Such as grandparents, uncles and aunts, older siblings, etc.

I like this solution of passing out a form early on the school year to the parents and get their schedules. That will then save you a lot of time later on if/when you need to contact them.

The only problem I see with the solution is that if the teacher has already tried multiple ways of communicating and still gotten nothing, i don't think it has to do with their busy schedule. No matter what parents see emails, hear voicemails, and hoping see notes home, which is the only one I could see not getting through. I think the teacher should get higher school authority involved to get in contact with the parents.

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Solution #2
Trade schedules with all the parents, so they know when they are able to contact you as well. I know when my doctors call and I can't get to the message until they are closed, I often forget about it because I can't contact them again. Be open to having unusual hours to make phone calls, as well. Lastly, I would make it a point to reach out to parents when you'd like to offer praise, not only to inform of misbehavior. This can make a parent more willing to discuss things with a teacher since they are not only be contacted with (another) problem to deal with.

I definitely agree with reaching out for praise and not just misbehavior. This way parents are more willing to speak to teachers.

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Solution #3
During parent orientation i would figure out parents work schedule by simply asking them for the best times they could be reached. Also have an alternative contact or family contact number.
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Solution #4
Parents have a lot of work. Maybe having the parents send you heir schedule of when their down time is will help you reach them. You could do this on the first day of school or during meeting. If that isnt helping i would have the school call them and leave messages every time so they know you are serious
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Solution #5
I would make sure to document all the times you have reached out just in case it becomes a bigger issue, we never know what kind of circumstances are going on at home and do not want to jump to any kind of conclusions about the parents. If problem persists, I would seek help from administration, just so they know what you have done successfully or unsuccessfully.
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Solution #6
During the first week of school, have a sheet go home that the students and the parents do together. On that sheet, have a place to put information like best way to reach parents, and in case of emergency information. Also allow the student to put information about their family.
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Solution #7
If the student gets picked up via car line, I would try to talk to the parent briefly about stating there is a note that they need to read that is with the student. I would also try to utilize the student to tell them to directly provide the message to their student by telling them to check their email or read the note in their folder.
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Solution #8
Unfortunately some parents are unreachable. You can talk to your principle about this. It is also imporant to document all of your attempts.
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Solution #9
Sometimes when you cannot contact parents you can call the school social worker and ask them to make a home visit to their house.
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Solution #10
Parents are hard to reach sometimes due to a stagnant schedule, language barriers, even sometimes students block their parents number from the school. A way to reach out would to get administration to help out. Some people blow off teachers but the scariest thing is when a principle calls the parent instead.
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