You Ask, Patch Answers: School Visitors

Last week, a North Kingstown parent inquired about the school department's stance on allowing parents to visitor their children at schools.

According to this parent, she was allowed to visit her child last year at a different school but ran into issues this year. School Superintendent Phil Auger says the decision to allow parents to visit students varies from school to school and is at the discretion of the principal.

"As a practice, it's generally not something we allow or encourage," said Auger. 

Auger says parent visitors are often a distraction to students. In extenuating circumstances, parents are allowed to visit their children at school.

"There are some rare occurrences when we let parents into the classrooms," said Auger. "For example, children with an individualized education program (IEP), parents are welcome to come visit to help them understand what we do and how their child is learning."

Auger adds that the practice is in place to help students grow in the classroom. The school department encourages parents to be involved in their children's education and school life through other means, he adds, including parent-child lunches at the schools, parent volunteering in extracurricular activities and more. 

According to Auger, the school department only receives a handful of visitation requests each year – most of them at the elementary school level.

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