During February, students have scheduled classes for next year with the use of Skyward. Counselors have provided help for students throughout this process.
Over the years, changes have been made within the school district, and this can sometimes affect scheduling and class availability. Prerequisites may be changed and access to certain classes might be given earlier than before. If seniors had the chance to change their classes, it’s possible they would. Throughout high school, students won’t always get the classes they’ve wished for and picked out. If seniors could have had the chance to take those classes now, it’s possible they would have.
“AP Physics,” senior U’Rye Williams said. “I wish I got to take that. I didn’t know that they were replacing it for normal physics until this year, because they just did that. I really wish they would have done that earlier so I would have got the chance to take AP Physics.”
Depending on the person, the scheduling process can vary in difficulty.
“For me, I found it very easy to schedule initially, but if I wanted to back out of classes that I figured out I didn’t actually like, then it would be a little bit more of a confusing and difficult process,” Williams said.
The scheduling process consists of multiple steps.
“The first step is to talk with your teachers about your intentions,” Counselor Laura Brubaker said. “The teachers are going to put in recommendations of what they think is most appropriate for your future.”
The second step involves looking at the course description booklet. The booklet provides all available classes and their descriptions, but some classes are more sought after more than others, so certain classes aren’t as easy to get into.
“Each grade level is going to have a window that is open where they can request courses, and the students can sit down with their families and talk about what classes they may want to take,” Brubaker said. “In that section on Skyward you’ll be able to see all the teacher recommendations as well.”
Each grade meets with their counselors on certain days for individual discussions.
“This [individual meeting with counselors] is usually during their English classes, where we are able to take a look at a printout of your intentions and talk about your goals and what would be the best schedule for you in the future,” Brubaker said.
Different grades have access to certain classes on Skyward. Some classes are more fit for certain grade levels than others, and some classes require prerequisites. It’s the counselors’ job to check for conflicts and errors and to attempt to fix them through Skyward.
“Skyward does a lot of it; they take your teacher’s recommendations and the students’ requests into consideration,” Brubaker said. “That’s why it’s really important to rank your electives that are backups, because the Skyward will pull from those classes. We have pre-programmed Skyward so certain grade levels can only have access to certain classes.”
Sometimes students don’t have room in their schedule to fit certain classes that they may want. Counselors will discuss that with students, offering them an opportunity to clear up space in their schedule or to make up for a failed class during the summer.
“Toward the end of the year, once we have everything set into stone of what dates and what the program is going to look like, we will reach out to students and let them know if they’re interested in doing summer gym for enrichment to make room in their schedule,” Brubaker said. “They can come pick up the papers and turn it in, and they can get enrolled in that. Some people might need remedial courses if they don’t pass a core class; they could take summer school for that as well.”
The personal finance elective is now a graduation requirement, but due to the number of students who would need to take it this year, there aren’t enough spots to fit them all.
“Personal finance is a class that is going to be required by the state for all high schoolers to take,” Brubaker said. “Our school district has decided to target it with one of the younger classmen. This year’s current juniors do not have to take personal finance, but underclassmen will eventually have to.”
