by Eduardo Calderon | staff writer
With the start of a new school year comes a new list of courses, and many Jaguars have experienced mix-ups with schedules in the first few weeks of the 2011-2012 school year.
“A course I already took was on my schedule again,” senior Sean Encino said, “I know other problems with schedules are holes, when a period is completely missing.”
Counselors every year deal with some of scheduling’s greatest problems.
“The biggest problems are classes they [students] didn’t sign up for, they don’t want this teacher, they want a different lunch, or they signed up for a pre-AP or AP class and it’s not there,” counselor Rebecca Hudkins said.
Athlete Jaguars may need a schedule change to accommodate sports.
“Since I’m in football, we leave many times during 8th period, so I would be missing a lot especially if I kept my core class there,” junior Manny Sanders said.
With many more Jaguars this year than in years past, classes must be balanced and filtered out to reach a reasonable size.
“Some kids might get switched out because there are many overcrowded classrooms, so the counselors try and work around schedules to make all the rooms level,” junior John Biegger said.
There are many ways to go about a schedule change, especially if that class is not what a student needs.
“The process to get a change is go to the teacher that you want to change out of, and there are two forms, first is the generic, to change or drop a class,” Hudkins said, “The second will come out next week that will be the future form for a change, like a change from or to a Pre-AP or AP class.”
Forms can be filled out to complete a schedule change.
“If you go to the counseling office, you can get a form so you can speak to your counselor, or you can fill out a schedule change form and a new schedule will be delivered to you in class,” Biegger said.
Counselors are available daily for all Jaguars.
“[To change your schedule] there’s a preference of coming before or after school, or during your lunch period,” Hudkins said, “If you come from a class you must have a pass.”
Many Jaguars get new schedule changes, but perhaps some grade levels request them more readily.
“Typically its the juniors and seniors because they’ve been in the school longer, they know the classes, and teachers better, and schedules are tighter for upperclassmen.” Hudkins said.
Sometimes leaving school early can make scheduling difficult.
“I think seniors get more schedule changes, because there’s always loopholes for them in lunches, and they need to get all their periods in before early release,” Encino said.
Those that are new to the school may have more trouble for choosing classes.
“Probably freshmen and sophomores [have it more difficult], since I’ve handed more new schedules to them during my counseling aide class,” Biegger said.
Choosing classes for next year begins early during the current school year.
“Most kids had a verified eight classes this year by all the counselors, but when they don’t know why they have this class it’s because course selection starts in fall so they don’t remember,” Hudkins said, “They should know what classes they pick because it may follow them to next year.”
