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By Linderman and Zemel
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Oct. 15, 2003 |
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Students will return to physical arena scheduling and face a potential six-class maximum next semester due to district-wide budget cuts, according to assistant principal Gloria Bogdanoff.
The administration will abandon the Lowell Electronic Arena to save $13,000 in operating costs and revert back to the old system, which costs the school nothing, Bogdanoff said.
Administrators have not yet confirmed a policy that would limit students to six classes per semester. I still believe it is likely that students will be able to take a seventh class, counselor Harlan Edelman said. But we cant know anything for sure.
Funds raised by the Parent Teacher Student Association may allow students to take a seventh class. The schools net financial loses heavily depend on the fundraising efforts of the PTSA, who will most likely use funds to hire faculty, enabling the administration to offer more courses next fall.
Lingering uncertainty caused some confusion among students when they filled out course requests last month.
Students mostly have an unwillingness to accept putting six classes instead of seven, counselor Charlotte Glashagel said.
Although the district has never funded more than six classes per student, fiscal uncertainty may prompt administrators to set an official six-class limit.
Previously, a relatively equal number of students had seven- and five-class schedules, which cost the equivalent of six classes per student, according to Bogdanoff. This year, we are not sure how many have signed up for each of those schedules, she said. We dont know the budget or how many teachers we will lose, so we can only guarantee the students six classes.
Although the school stands to lose $1.3 million in funds next year, the administration is planning on offering all the classes listed in the Course Offerings and Prerequisites document.
The district is operating with a worst-case scenario, Edelman said. I have not heard of any (Lowell courses) that have been cut.
The school will process student course requests by the end of April. By the end of May, administrators will confirm the amount of money available and will notify students about whether the school will still offer the classes they chose.
Because of financial instability, administrators inserted safety nets into the scheduling process to avoid incomplete schedules. The program worksheet for next semesters courses included space to fill out back-up choices for English and Visual Performing Arts courses.
Because there were too many students requesting certain classes (last semester), many were left without English classes at all, Bogdanoff said. We decided to add second and third choice requests, to ensure an English class for everyone.
For the second time, the administration listed the number of sections on the Course Offerings and Prerequisites document based on the number of teachers available to teach those classes. Previously, administrators decided how many sections of each English course to offer after considering how many students requested each class.
Students ended up with incomplete schedules because the number of sections of a particular class did not necessarily correspond with the number of students who wished to take that class, Bogdanoff said.
For optimum scheduling results, students should have considered their rotation and the number of sections per course before requesting a class. However, few students used this strategy while scheduling courses last semester because they were inexperienced with the new system. Many students ignored the listed number of course sections and were left with incomplete schedules.
Despite precautions, incomplete schedules will probably increase in the future, according to Edelman.
If classes are more crowded, there will be more incompletes, he said.
To make scheduling a more efficient process, a committee comprised of department heads, counselors and other administrators suggested implementing once-a-year scheduling and replacing the modular system with a period schedule.
Administrators will not implement once-a-year scheduling next year since no one has planned the process, but it will be a possibility for the year after next, according to Bogdanoff.
We are the only school in the district that schedules twice a year, so counselors spend a lot of time working on students schedules, she said. We especially need to save time because counselors might get cut next year. It is totally hypothetical at this point, but students, counselors, everybody would benefit tremendously.
The committee met with assistant principals from Lincoln and Washington High Schools to examine the advantages and drawbacks of scheduling systems. However, the administrations decision to revive the physical arena is the only change that will take place next semester.
Although students are familiar with the physical arena, some were confused about the effect of budget cuts. Figuring out whats going to exist is
complicated, junior Sylvie Grossbard said. We also had less time to get information before acting upon it.
Other students were puzzled by the course title change from Trigonometry to Pre-Calculus.
It is the same course, but we just wanted the name to be more in sync with UCs, Bogdanoff said. |
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