Portland — Portland Public Schools proposed shortening parent‑teacher conferences and compressing the scheduling window this fall, drawing sustained public comment from teachers, parents and students who said the change would reduce meaningful family engagement and hurt multilingual and working families.

At a Sept. 30 meeting of the Portland Board of Public Education, teachers and parents described receiving last‑minute emails about the change and said a switch from roughly 30‑minute slots to a plan that initially included 15‑minute slots would not allow adequate time for student‑led conferences, interpreter‑assisted meetings or discussions of learning and supports.

"Shortening it even further makes it seem like there will be virtually no time to do that, and will limit parents' ability to engage in their child's education," said Marley Lavetli, a Peaks Island parent. Kindergarten teacher Molly Mendola called the late notice "a slap in the face," saying the decision was made without teacher or parent input and that preparing students for conferences is itself instructional time. "These conferences are instructional time," Mendola said.

Teachers and school staff provided data and practical concerns at the hearing. Dr. Erin Beal, an instructional coach at Lyman Moore Middle School, said school attendance data showed that 45% of conferences the prior year had occurred between noon and 2:30 p.m. and that multilingual families attend earlier time slots more often than evening slots. Several speakers also noted that Friday conferences produced a 20% drop in attendance at their schools.

Superintendent (district) acknowledged the rollout was imperfect and said the changes were intended to address four district challenges: families receiving conference notices late when conferences previously stretched from September through December; loss of instructional time from multiple half‑days; overload on the multilingual team; and transportation limits caused by varied dismissal times. The superintendent said the district's initial communications had overemphasized 15‑minute and 30‑minute increments and had been too rigid in messaging.

"We heard feedback from staff that this felt like they weren't heard, and they weren't engaged enough, and that's fair criticism," the superintendent said, announcing several adjustments based on listening sessions with teachers and the Portland Education Association. Those adjustments include adding an additional early‑dismissal Wednesday and a separate Wednesday for planning, which the district said expands the available conference window to about 11½ hours for schools that use the added days for conferences and planning.

The superintendent said the district also set three operational bounds for this year: avoid instructional half‑days, keep after‑school conference time within the 7½‑hour limit in the teacher contract, and complete conferences within a shortened calendar window so the multilingual team would not be stretched across months. The district said principals have discretion to provide earlier daytime slots where needed and to free up capacity—for example, by assigning an instructional coach or other release staff to cover classrooms briefly—noting that such coverage is not equivalent to the classroom teacher but may provide needed flexibility in some circumstances.

Several parents and teachers urged the board and district to restore longer slots at schools that run student‑led conferences (where students guide the meeting) and to ensure adequate interpreter staffing. "Interpretive conferences being shortened to 30 minutes is in no way equitable," said Veil Bridger, a Presumpscot School teacher who said some language groups previously had 45‑minute slots.

Board members asked for clarity on how the scheduling software Reach My Teach constrains slot lengths and for data on how many students and families will be directly affected by slot reductions. The superintendent said Reach My Teach uses fixed slots but that schools can work around the software when families need longer meetings.

The board did not take formal action on conference policy at the Sept. 30 meeting. The superintendent said staff would continue engagement with teachers, principals, families and the PEA and that the district hoped to finalize a school‑level approach responsive to local needs within the bounds described.

The district asked schools to treat exceptional requests—longer conferences, early daytime slots for multilingual families, or family requests tied to housing or social work concerns—as situations that can be accommodated at the building level. Parents and teachers asked the board to monitor implementation and to request data on attendance by time slot and interpreter assignments so equity impacts can be tracked.

The debate highlighted competing operational constraints: safeguarding instructional time, honoring teachers' contract hours, ensuring interpreters are available, and meeting families' scheduling needs. Teachers asked for better advance notice when the district considers system changes, and the superintendent said the district would seek to place similar conversations earlier in the calendar in the future.

The board meeting record shows the district will host additional listening sessions and will post revised guidance and school‑level schedules on its website. Board members asked for follow‑up reports with data on attendance by conference slot, interpreter coverage, and how many schools used release staff to provide earlier meeting windows.

"We want to be responsive to what's needed," the superintendent said. "If somebody said, 'Ryan's conference really needs to be 45, nobody's saying no.'"