Conference Nights: My Dreaded 12-Hour Shift

Another thing I forgot about was mandatory Conference Nights at public schools. Principals have the liberty of selecting to do more shorter conferences per school year, or less longer ones. In my experience, it has been the latter option because teachers just want to get it out of the way. It is written into the teacher contract that you have to attend them, or else you must use your personal time off [even though it is after the school day].

When you are not a classroom teacher, it is a waste of your time that you would have otherwise spent handling your personal business at home or wherever your yoga class or kids' sports program would be (It may be a waste of teachers' time, too, when parents do not show up as is typical in certain types of schools.). Since a Behavior Specialist is a school-based instructional position in Hillsborough County Public Schools, you must do what the teachers do.

I consider Conference Night to be straight torture. The normal school employee work hours were from 07:45 to 15:45--an eight-hour day. I got a 30-minute lunch--"duty-free" as specified in the teacher contract. Throw in about 50 minutes of lunch duty (because the students were getting an entire period of lunch), and that cancels out the peace I tried to attain during my lunch break. Add about an unexpected hour's worth of commute to school where I am stewing in anxiety and traffic frustration. Add about another hour where I am commuting from school like a madman to get to my safe spot--my home base. And the total is a 10-hour hour day.

Conference Night was from 16:30 to 19:00. However, since this was a neighborhood school, you knew that parents were going to float in as early as 16:00. Technically though, you could leave to do whatever as long as you returned at the start time. I would search for tasks to do. Could I take a nap? I tried to lie on the desk or floor to see if I could decrease my heart rate. Nope. Could I walk around campus? I may run into folks who may ask me shit that I cannot truthfully answer. Nope. Could I talk on the phone to my safe people? Yep. But the conversations ended up being of the variety "not safe for work" and I thought the walls were thin. I tried to work on paperwork-type things that I did during the school day. But my focus was off. I was tapped out, of course.

Principals typically provide the staff "dinner" since we are there during dinner time. For this, you fall into either

• Category A: Go get food then use that time to eat and chat with colleagues, or
• Category B: Go get food then smoothly disappear to enjoy your food alone

I preferred B– because I would be completely tapped out at this ninth and tenth hour--but I know the value of A for a little potential stress relief from killing time, maybe some commiseration, and rapport building as not to seem like a total weirdo from skipping out on social interactions. I like to blend both categories on a good day. I did not have many good days at this school.

As that final 20 minutes ticks by, you grab your belongings and find someone to occupy your attention briefly as you eye the exit. You have to gauge whether teachers actually stay until the final minute, or nah. The best know how to make themselves unknown at just the right time. I jumped in my car and hit the gas to make it to the gym. And I have never been on time for the work the following day--typically a Friday. Sometimes, I tell Administration in advance because I know my body. It is the best I can do after working nearly a 12-hour shift.