By Kristie Hoang
Guidance specialists began making schedule adjustments for students last week.
A guidance specialist’s job is to adjust a student’s schedule according to their needs. Unfortunately, a guidance specialist must also adjust a student’s schedule due to class leveling. At the beginning of a new semester, class leveling takes place in order for teachers to meet their teaching contracts.
“When [guidance specialists] have a class that has 38, or 39 students, we print the class list out, and we take a look at each student. We see who can move without the least interruption,” said guidance specialist Monika Whitman.
The idea is to transfer a student to the same teacher, but in a different period to minimize disruption. This tedious task is all done by hand by the guidance specialists themselves. If a student has already has a change in their schedule, he or she will not be leveled a second time.
“I really didn’t like my schedule to be changed,” said Leandra Doan (’16). “I had the same teacher, but I had to get used to all the new kids in my class.”
Sometimes students attempt to adjust their schedule to their preferred choice of teachers. This cannot be carried out for students. Students are placed into classes based on prerequisites and teacher recommendations. Students who wish to transfer into a higher level course or a class with a different teacher will be put on a waiting list.
“We have to have a maximum of 37 students per class, so maximum students is 185,” said math teacher Thomas Ngo. This number is by contract in the core areas of math, science, English, social studies, and world language.
When a class is full, a student’s schedule must be altered in order to meet these standards. The school cannot open a new class section just because three more students want a class. Unfilled classes are extremely costly. In order to maintain efficient use of materials, each class must be filled to its full capacity.
“Ideally, I’d like leveling to be done during the first week or so,” Ngo said. “Once it gets two weeks, then we have to make sure that all the teachers are on the same pace, so that once a student transfers over, they’re not too far behind, or too far ahead.”
Class leveling often takes longer than expected. Guidance specialists must wait for an approval from administration before they can add new classes.
A new section of AP English 3 classes has opened, so students will have to be rearranged and leveled again.
“It’s not my favorite thing to do,” said Whitman. “It’s the least favorite thing about my job.”
