The start of the spring semester brings change for many Northwood students: a new semester, a new gradebook and, most notably, a new schedule.
For those who have seen their classes and teachers switched around, the changes might seem arbitrary. But behind the scenes, there is a complicated process involving numerous moving parts that Northwood administrators and counselors have to account for.
According to principal Eric Keith, the school’s administration begins working on schedules after students submit their course requestors during their spring conferences in March.
“We start off looking at the number of students that sign up for courses,” Keith said. “Some courses are required so we run them regardless. With courses that are electives, we look to see how many kids want to take it, we look at the feasibility in terms of the number of kids and then we start to build the master schedule.”
Northwood’s administration decides which classes the school is going to run, how many sections of each class there will be and who will teach each section. These variables depend on constraints such as teacher contracts and class sign-ups.
The master schedule is completed over the summer. Once created, the administration coordinates with the counselors to match preferred classes with the master schedule.
“We spend a lot of the summer going through and dealing with conflicts,” Keith said. “We look at what worked and what didn’t work. It doesn’t always line up perfectly, so we fix that.”
At the semester mark, students who haven’t requested course changes rarely see shifts in their class periods or teachers. For those that do, changes occur because counselors have to reconcile discrepancies caused by shifts in other students’ schedules, such as dropped classes, added sports, dissolved periods and extenuating factors.
“At all grade levels there are options for semester-long classes and sports, so students are changing schedules in general, which will cause a domino effect,” lead counselor Megan Ostovarpour said. “When trying to put that puzzle piece back together, sometimes that means that someone else will move.”
When these changes occur, it’s important for students to remember that their counselors always have their best interests in mind and are there to help.
“We don’t like impacting students’ schedules, especially mid-year, so we try to only do it if it’s absolutely necessary,” Ostovarpour said. “Our biggest priorities as counselors is to make sure every student gets into the classes they need.”
For any specific questions about schedule changes, students can reach out to their assigned counselor.
