Weekly News and Notes

This week's information will focus solely on the scheduling process and timeline - so if you want to bookmark this to save for the post-exam period, or for a few minutes, that would be fine! This should give everyone a sense of the timeline we are trying to follow, as well as the program we have presented to parents.

SCHEDULING AND STUDENTS

On Thursday, January 23, we presented this presentation to parents of students in grades 9-11. It outlined the process and elective courses, as well as ways to help students build what a developmentally appropriate schedule would look like. Some takeaways:

• Sometimes, recommendations for AP classes in a discipline are given in a vacuum, in that the teacher making the recommendation isn't always aware of other recommendations or the full load of a student's life. A balanced schedule may not mean picking up every honors or AP class for which a student is recommended.
• We have literally dozens of electives. Beyond the core, students should elect classes that are of interest to them, will help maintain the number of credits they need to graduate, and will beef up their transcript.
• A learning pathway is not linear. Just because a student takes 1-2 honors or AP classes as a sophomore does not necessarily mean that the student should remain in that trajectory. Yes, some students will move from one AP class as a sophomore, to three as a junior, to four a senior, but it is okay to adjust based on interest- and it is entirely plausible to take AP in one discipline, but accelerated or standard in another.
• We build the schedule based on student requests. After we have the full bulk of requests loaded, the administration and ed leaders will determine which classes will or will not run. 
• Students select alternates to their electives. Should an elective not run, the program will fit them into an alternate. Should a student not select alternate, s/he runs the risk of forfeiting free will, because we will find him/her a class!

The timeline:

January 23: Grade 9-11 Evening Parent Meeting

Feb 3-4: Class meetings for grades 9-11

Feb 7: Grades 9, 10 & 11 review course selections with teachers

Feb 10-12: Students enter course requests into database

Feb 13: Course Tallies go to Counselors

Feb 24: Selections posted to Parent Portal

Feb 25: Grade 8 Student/Parent Night

Feb 28: Grade 8 Assembly to review course selection

March 3: Final day for course selection change requests 

Early March: Department Leaders and Admin determine what courses will or will not run next year

Mid-March: Guidance Counselors adjust course requests based on course availability


We indicated the following to parents in terms of specific questions: 

• Regarding specific course recommendations: contact the teacher
• Regarding the specifics of certain electives: Refer to the Program of Studies for a description, contact the Ed Leader or Dean with any questions
• Regarding the specifics of a student’s schedule, program, or course load: contact the counselor
• Regarding a discrepancy between the course desired and the course recommended: Start with the teacher and counselor 

We did not get into the specifics of the override process with parents. Should there be a discrepancy in your recommendation and any indication you get from the parent or student, let the counselor know. 
We will be  providing some talking points regarding course recommendation dialogue - that said, frequently most students and staff are in alignment with the following year's recommendation and the conversations about a different placement are limited. If you have questions in advance of course recommendations for specific students, consult with Aubrie, Shanley, Dot or Mike.


Scheduling and Staff

Obviously, our goal in building the schedule is to satisfy as many of the student requests as possible. We have also, however, made a commitment to the teacher schedules, in that we have attempted to provide staff with courses that are of personal interest/commitment. As we move forward, you can expect some dialogue on course assignments for next year, ways we can limit the number of preps, and opportunities to maximize common planning time. We would like to find more ways for staff members who share common classes to have common free periods or an assigned common plan/PLC time. It worked out this year in many disciplines.

Please understand that each "rule" or limit we put on the schedule makes the schedule more difficult to satisfy - particularly for classes that need multiple sections. Also, we would love to limit the number of singletons that make teacher schedules a bit chaotic, with the understanding that some classes do have to run as singletons, which impacts teacher schedules.

Rest assured that should a staff member be slated for more than three preps that a conversation will be had. Again, we will be working on some ways to solicit feedback on the build as it starts, but to be frank, and to quote Mick (love the scarf, by the way):

Some files that may be helpful:

Elective handout for parents can be viewed at: http://tinyurl.com/p8yjxf8
2014-15 Program of Studies can be viewed at: http://tinyurl.com/mxkymet  Presentation to families can be viewed at: http://tinyurl.com/mf55e4b






Some dates to remember:

• January 30: First day of second semester - will be a Day 3!
• February 3-4: Scheduling assemblies with students. We will also be holding an assembly with seniors during that week as well. Full schedule will be posted soon
• February 7: Course selection Day - all 7 classes will meet
• February 10-12: Course input in labs - schedule forthcoming
• February 13: Snow Ball Dance, 7-10
• February 17-21: Winter Break
• March 14: Early Release Day

Best of luck with the end of the semester, finalizing grades, evaluating mid-year exams, and using these next two weeks as a jumping off point for third quarter and the second half of the year!