It’s the half-way mark of the school year, and while relief sets in for some, new schedules create panic for many students. New classes, teachers, and classmates can be exciting, but Utica students seem to have a different opinion. Counselors are bombarded with schedule change requests once January hits. So, this begs the question, is it worth it to try and fix your classes; or is it best to sit back and let the semester take its course?
Frustrations are high for both the counseling office and the students trying to make the most of their time in the building. Countless students seem to blame those in charge of creating the class rosters. There isn’t much they can do about it unless they can get a meeting. That, however, is near impossible for individuals whose disapproval of their schedule is seen as unimportant.
“The frustrating thing is that, with the form that you have to fill out for the schedule changes, it only lists a certain, very specific set of reasons for requesting a change,” senior Tyler May said. “Which I understand it, it’s one way to get rid of the people who are just coming in there to get classes with their friends, but they should include another section. Maybe take the time to read other people’s reasons, rather than just dismissing them as a whole.”
May’s position of the student council e-board put him in a strange circumstance. Due to his schedule at the time, he was missing out on important meetings with his peers. Yet, the schedule change request form didn’t have a box for his issue. May had trouble expressing the urgency of his predicament with the office. Once he got a meeting with his counselor, the problem was resolved immediately. Taking May’s extremely specific scheduling problem into consideration, one could wonder how many other students have gone through the same tribulations to see a change.
On the contrary, the problem a lot of people take with their schedule is in fact that they are not in classes with their friends. Being surrounded by those who make you happy can make high school more exciting and fulfilling, but not everyone gets to experience school that way. Students understand that this isn’t an urgent matter to the counselors, but understanding doesn’t change their disappointment.
“So many people who actually need to get schedule changes, or actually have a real concern, can’t,” senior Christian Witte said. “It makes you feel guilty requesting a change because counselors are already swamped.”
Witte is among an overwhelming majority of seniors that are struggling to enjoy their last few months of classes. Meanwhile, other students were placed in classes they simply never picked. All their alternate choices were skipped. “Some of my classes are not ones that I picked, I wanted to have my classes changed, and, thankfully, I got what I wanted,” junior Owen Mailhot said. “However, it was a little frustrating, but I would say the counselors were helpful.”
Mailhot’s reasoning for needed a schedule change was considered legitimate. Unlike May and Witte, his issue fit the criteria on the change request form. Even though his burning problem was fixed, not all his demands were met. “Sometimes you just can’t always get the classes you want. I tried to switch around some of my hours to what would work better for me, but that didn’t happen.” Mailhot said.
On the other side of things, the counseling office seems just as frustrated with the system; more so than the students. The ratio of students to counselors at Utica is by no means equal. There are large margins of discrepancy, and each counselor has, roughly, 325 students to manage each.
“There are limitations to what we can change. I would like to give every student the schedule they want,” counselor Lawrence Perry said. “We have to be realistic. There are rules in place. There are laws in place. There are union rules in place, things that need to be done. There are policies set by the building that we all have to follow. So, at some point we have to limit the amount of changes made.”
Dr. Perry has been very willing to work with students on their demands this semester. He has expressed a large understanding of the students’ frustrations, as well as his own. However, he urges students to understand that there is truly little he and other counselors can do about class changes. “I blame a system that doesn’t allot enough time for scheduling,” Perry said. “It really is pretty important to every student, and it’s important to us too.”
As parting words, Perry also said, “I always encourage the students, because I know their time is important to them, be very careful with the classes you pick.” So, when you are picking out your classes for the next school year, take every single one of your electives and alternative choices into consideration. There is a large chance you will not be able to change out of a class.
