Back to School night puts moms and dads behind the desks
By:Krzysztof Scibiorski
Cars spilled into area neighborhoods and athletic fields as the parents of the 603 students in the sixth-grade class at Hillsborough Middle School came together for the annual Back to School Night on Tuesday.
Shortly after 7 p.m. the annex auditorium was filled to capacity, with late-arriving parents having to stand in the hallway. With such a crowd on hand, the auditorium’s air conditioning seemed to be faltering and many parents looked like summertime church-goers as they vigorously fanned themselves with class schedules to keep cool.
Robert DelPrete, the school’s principal, welcomed the assembled parents and congratulated them the strong turnout.
"The best you can do for your kids is to get involved in their lives and their education; by showing up here in such numbers you’re doing just that," Mr. DelPrete said. The principal also introduced the parents to Scott Rocco, the sixth grade vice principal whose office is in the annex, where most of the sixth-graders spend their days.
As the parents slowly filed out of the auditorium trying to reach their childrens’ homerooms, selected sixth-graders acted as guides for the often befuddled parents. Students such as Ryan Fox and Kole Petrusky stood by with maps of their new school and tried to steer the parents toward their destinations.
"The sixth grade is such an important transitional year for the students that we usually see 85 to 90 percent of the parents attending the Back to School Night," Mr. DelPrete explained, as he walked the halls helping confused parents find classrooms and meeting his new student helpers.
The parents attended 10-minute versions of their children’s classes, meeting the teachers and hearing about class expectations and rules. Other sixth-graders manned the annex office and made announcements indicating the end of each period.
Takeshi Horiguchia, one of the students helping in the office, had mixed feelings about the start of his year at a new school.
"I like it here and the teachers are really nice, but it’s really complicated because we have nine periods, not three, and our backpacks get very heavy with all of the books," Takeshi explained.
Justin Kozik, another sixth-grader, saw many positives in his move to the middle school. "I like the fact that there are other classes like shop, and more electives like music that you can take here," he said.
During their children’s lunch hour the parents had a chance to explore presentations of the cycle of classes students will be attending during the year. Jim Steel, one of the parents, said, "This is a really good program, we get to see what the kids do, meet the teachers and see the school."

