lcramer posted on January 28, 2011 12:37
Past problems with scheduling have led to a change in procedure for the way students will register for classes next year.
Students will receive increased assistance in the scheduling process, which will begin Feb. 1 when they get paper forms to fill out and get initialed by teachers.
"Last year there were probably 250 schedules we had to fix because kids had signed up for or gotten doubles of the same class," principal Victoria Swartz said. "We're going to do a different procedure in how we do scheduling because we're going to help students make sure they're signing up for the right classes.
"The closer we are to getting your schedule right the first time, the more likely you are to get what you want."
In past years, students have entered their schedules online, but now guidance counselors will do the final schedule submissions based on the paper forms that students turn in.
"With the webpage, students weren't paying attention to what they were signing up for," counselor Greg Distel said. "So everything is going to be in our (counselors') hands.
"We'll make sure that everything each student has requested is possible and that they have all the credits they need to graduate."
Junior Kari Payne, who encountered difficulties with the online scheduling process last year, believes the new procedure will make things run more smoothly.
“It lessens the probability that problems will arise because it (scheduling) will be done by counselors who know what they’re doing, not students who aren’t as familiar with the process,” Payne said.
Mistakes in registering for classes not only affect individual students, but also impact how the master schedule is created and staffing decisions are made.
"Once you get further along in the year, it is too late to start moving things around a lot," Swartz said. "Hopefully we'll be able to hire staff based on accurate numbers because they will be more correct this year.
"It's so important that students' schedules get put in correctly the first time so that we can make other decisions based off of correct information."