Student schedule changes time consuming, complicated

Senior Victor Vasquez asks counselor Leticia Rodriguez for schedule advice.

Samantha Velarde, Reporter
October 14, 2019

The dust has begun to settle for students, counselors and teachers. Schedule changes are done the first three weeks of school and counselors worked to balance loads. 

Students often complain about slow schedule changes without knowing the hurdles counselors encounter. 

“It gets frustrating when you don’t see results from the counselors,” senior Andrea Del Real said. “It takes forever for the counselors to do a simple thing like changing my schedule or to check my credits.”

Students wonder why counselors are slow to manage schedule changes.

“What gets me mad is that I have been here four years and they are still having trouble getting my schedule in check,” senior Brianna Olmos said. “Every year, except my freshman year, I have had my schedule messed up and I have had to wait two to three weeks before it is fixed.”

A schedule change two to three weeks into the semester can impact and create trouble for students who have to make up work in their new classes.

“My grade was a 60 almost my whole first nine weeks in my freshman year,” Olmos said.

Counselors do know what students go through.

“I understand the students want things done as soon as possible but having so many kids wanting the same class creates conflict with the number of teachers and classes,” counselor Yasmin Villa said. “We want everybody to enjoy the classes they’re taking because this is where you figure out what you like to study.”

The master schedule, which outlines the classes that are offered at specific times is not controlled by counselors.

“The master schedule is the heart of the school. If it is not balanced we have more teachers in the morning than the afternoon which creates a stressful situation for us,” Villa said.

Some students have no problems with their counselor and actually admire them for all the work they do.

“Seeing the counselor run in the hallways always make me realize how much they do,” senior Rene Esparza said.

Some counselors wish they had more time with their students.

“What the counselors want is to have more personal time with the students like the teachers do,” Villa said. “We don’t get to meet our student because of paperwork, but we wish we had more time to know the personal side of our students.”