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Frederick County parents will have to prepare for five days of parent-teacher conferences next fall, and everything that comes with them — short school days, extra child care and interrupted schedules.

But that could change the following year.

School officials are considering reducing or eliminating the number of parent-teacher conferences, mostly due to concerns that the conferences eat up instructional time and create a scheduling nightmare for families.

The Frederick County Board of Education has asked the Education Reform Council — a group of representatives from Frederick County Public Schools and the Frederick County Teachers Association — to research the idea.

The council will gather date conference attendance, identify best practices in parent-teacher communication, and poll parents and teachers for their thoughts on conferences.

"The [council] will be just one arena where discussions will occur regarding all aspects of the parent conference issue," Paula Lawton, the school system's director for human resources, wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette.

The council will bring the information to the board for a decision next year. Based on the data, the board may decide to eliminate conference days or reduce them.

The issue of parent-teacher conferences comes up every time officials start discussing the academic calendar. This year was no exception.

It surfaced up when the board discussed public feedback on the proposed 2009-10 calendar. According to Lawton, who received calendar comments from more than 90 parents, no other issue generated more concerns among parent-teacher conferences.

The problem comes from the fact that that the school system holds parent-teacher conferences over three half days in the fall and two half days in the spring.

"Most frequently, they asked us to close schools for a day," Lawton said.

But to do that, schools have to make up for an extra instructional day, which costs more than $1 million, she said.

Eliminating conferences may resolve that problem and reduce the amount of instructional time that students lose. And the impact of the change may not be significant because parents can check grades online and use e-mail to communicate with teachers every day, said board member Michael Schaden.

"We all know in these times there are many ways for parents to communicate with teachers," he said. "If we can scale back on conferences, we may be able to make it easier for families."

For board member Angie Fish, the biggest issue with conference days was the loss of instructional time.

This fall for example, conferences stretched over three consecutive half days in October. In the same week, students had one day off for educational training and a day of late start dedicated to teacher work sessions, Fish said.

"I really have an issue with the conference week," she said. "When you have a family with two working parents something's got to give. … My concern is that kids are missing an entire week of instruction."

However, board members Donna Crook and Daryl Boffman oppose the idea of eliminating the conferences.

Boffman said face-to-face meetings keep parents involved, and with no set dates for conferences, some parents may not ever meet their children's teachers.

Crook, on the other hand, said eliminating conferences may put parents who don't have computer access at a disadvantage. She also noted that face-to-face time with teachers is essential for parents of students who struggle academically or have special needs.

"The parent-teacher conferences are very much a benefit for the parents," Crook said.

The majority of board members, however, believe that the board can find alternative ways to resolve these concerns — by scheduling conferences for elementary and special education students only or allowing parents to schedule less formal meetings with teachers on their own time.

This would be similar to the practice in Montgomery County Public Schools. The school only sets a day for mandatory elementary level parent-teacher conferences, said spokeswoman Kate Harrison. On secondary level, parents are encouraged to schedule their own meetings with teachers, she said.

School systems in Carroll and Prince George's counties also have only one formal parent-teacher conference day built into their calendars.

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.