Students are anxious to see which classes and periods they will be placed in, but complain when they do not get their anticipated schedules. However, they must consider the effort put into setting schedules that meet everybody’s needs.
According to Counselor Mr. Cary Smith, it is impossible to have a master schedule that satisfies the student body and the teachers. Some students feel entitled to take certain courses after doing summer work but must consider limited space and conflicting courses.
Many classes, such as Yearbook, ASB, ROP and AP classes have set periods, which cause classes to overlap. Sacrifices need to be made so the majority of the students can have their desired schedules. This year the final master schedule had a 97.3% successful placement rate with only 56 students having a class that could not fit into their schedule.
Rather than thinking of dropped classes negatively, students must remember that they are sacrificing one course to be able to take others.
“Students cannot have all they want,” History Teacher Mr. Michael Shore said. “Whether they’ve done all the work or not has no bearing on schedule conflicts.”
Out of the students that were unable to fit certain classes into their set schedules, Senior Celena Chen was one of the few. Chen had to drop AP French to take AP Statistics, despite completing a portion of the required summer work for AP French. Although Chen had to lose one of her classes, she still manages to have four APs and Yearbook.
“On the one hand, I’m really sad that I won’t be able to take French, because I really like the French teacher and her class,” said Chen. “On the other hand, not having AP French means that I have less work and a shorter school day.”
From Mr. Smith, I learned that schedules are first set up in March when students receive a form to outline which classes they prefer for the upcoming year. Counselors then organize the requested courses into the student’s schedules, which are later adjusted to fit set periods. In May, students receive a form in which they can request changes to their schedules. In the end, Principal Ms. Mary Jo Fosselman King chooses what classes and periods teachers have that fulfill the wishes of most students and teachers.
The fact that only 2.7% of the entire school did not obtain their preferred schedules proves that the counselors and administration did their best to satisfy students and teachers. Not everything can be set to match one person’s schedule.