The annual open house for Malden High School has arrived. On Thursday, September 28th, parents and teachers were invited to attend an open house with their families.
Open house is a traditional way for parents and guardians to be more informed about what is going on in the school and why. This event especially helps the new freshmen to understand the building more and introduce their new teachers to their parents.
“I think it’s important to get families into the building, to hear a little bit about the school, to see the school, and have an opportunity just to have a face-to-face conversation with teachers. They’re not here to talk about the progress of their student, it’s more just to meet the teacher…and hear a little bit about the class,” said Malden High’s Principal, Christopher Mastrangelo.
At 5:30, parents were already streaming into the building, being guided to the auditorium, and grabbing their seats to prepare for the presentation by Mastrangelo. Some were accompanied by their children to help guide them to each of their classrooms after the presentation was over.
“This year we talked a lot about the new schedule. We talked about advisory, we talked about enrichment, we talked about the cell phone policy, tardy and absent policies, stuff that they can hear first hand,” explained Mastrangelo. He continues by stating, “the big one was really the schedule, particularly for our 9th grade parents. Our schedule is vastly different from what they have for K-8 so that’s usually the thing that we get the most questions about.”
Upon walking in you would be met with many smiling faces handing out pamphlets with information about the event. There was a table set up for parents that needed translators to help them around the school. All of these translators were students at Malden High School who cheerfully volunteered their time.
“You’re here for the teachers, you get emails from them, you get talking points from them, you get the opportunity to actually see before that parent-teacher conference. It’s just like ‘This is our classroom, this is who I am.’ … The parent-teacher conferences are very pointed and a lot of conversation about progress but this is more about ‘Hey, I’m Mr. So-and-so, this is my classroom, this is where your student comes every other day.”… so when a student goes home and tells stories about Ms. Terrell or Mr. Scheer, the parent now knows who that is and even what the classroom looks like.”
A new freshman to the school that attended the event said she “chose to attend the open house because I wanted to show my mom around the school.” She continued by stating she wanted her mom “to get to know my teachers so she can be aware of what I’m doing in school.”
To these new students this event can be helpful as they learn more about the unfamiliar system and policies of Malden High School. The students and parents were able to attain more insight into what the culture of this school is and how everyone interacts with one another.
The freshman who attended further stated, “I would say it did help me a little bit because I knew my way around the school to show my mom and it helped my mom because now that she knows the policy she’ll make sure that I actually follow them.”
This event was a huge success with Malden High School’s families and staff members. Everyone left with informed minds and joyful attitudes.
