This year a new course selection process has been implemented at Jackson-Reed to alleviate stress on counselors at the start of the next school year. Students select their classes and receive a copy of their requests in spring of the current school year. They then have the opportunity to change them, up until the second week of school in the fall.

Throughout the month of April, a Canvas form was provided, allowing students to pick their courses. Counselors visited classes to discuss course selection and help address any questions students had about the new digital selection process.

Subsequently, from May 15th to 26th, counselors allowed students to complete an online form to change their course requests. They later expanded this to offer virtual conferences from May 24th to June 2nd. 

The virtual conferences are for communication with families as a whole about course load and rigor. Sophomore counselor Bobby Collins said that parental input was important because course requests “should be a collaborative process.” He added that in the conferences they discuss “any questions that the family may have.” He also said that he preferred the discussion to filling out a form because it allows them to build a relationship with their students.

This new process clarifies schedules before they’re solidified over the summer. “This past year, we saw a lot of students needing and desiring schedule changes at the beginning of the school year, which resulted in large crowds, long wait times, and time out of class,” Principal Brown said. He emphasized that this process is to change course requests, not schedules, as the counselors want “to build [students’] schedules as accurately as possible, reflecting the classes that both students and parents agree upon.”

While counselors have aimed to combat past scheduling issues, some rising seniors had issues signing up for free periods. This is due to improper communication. According to junior counselor Aleta Lane, juniors were told to sign up for all eight classes during meetings in the winter, and were supposed to drop classes later, but this wasn’t properly communicated. She said that free periods are “based on student’s schedules” and that students who don’t have a job or dual enrollment will have to stay on campus. 

Next fall, opportunities to change classes will still be available during the first two weeks of the school year. 

As for right now, the staff has been communicating about these new updates through newsletters and town hall meetings.

Some students are still waiting for their course requests to be processed, which prevents them from modifying them before next year.

Students have had mixed reactions to the changes in selecting courses. Sophomore, Karina Alarcon, said that she disagreed with the decision because “schedules aren’t on [anyone’s] mind towards the end of the year since you want to get out of school.”