Here at Sparkman 9, the school year has started, and the student body as a collective got the chance to change their schedule for the first three days of school. On Monday the 8th, there was an announcement stating that there would be no more schedule changes. This led to irritation with many students. Some students chose not to change classes but still had strong opinions on the subject. 

Many students said that three days was not enough time to decide whether they wanted to change their schedules or not. Some don’t like their electives while others have academic concerns. 

“I don’t like journalism,” journalism student Taniya Rodriguez stated.  “Journalism wasn’t the first elective choice; it was a backup.”

Not all students were affected by the short window for schedule changes, but many still have opinions about the policy.

“It is really weird, only three days,” said S9 student Luisa Tiry. She was not affected by the three day time limit but added, “At least a week or two would be good.” 

Taniya Ridriguez said, “Three weeks, maybe a month would be enough time.” 

While the students aren’t too fond of the idea of only three days, there is indeed a reason behind it. 

We asked S9 counselor Trina McCulley why she decided to close schedule changes so early. “That’s Madison County’s Policy that all schedule changes have to be done within the first three days,” she explained. “It’s important because on a block schedule, three days actually equals six days.” 

When asked what the most common reasons people want their schedule changed, Mrs. McCulley said, ¨They think their class is too hard. They want to go from a regular to an honors, or an honors to a regular. Sometimes they never put in requests and they don’t like what was picked for them. It’s very important for when registration opens, they pick their classes so they get what they want.”

Students still don’t feel the equivalent of six days is enough time, especially when it comes to academic reasons. 

“My teacher teaches me well, but it’s things that I already know. I want to be in honors. We didn’t start learning until after the first three so we can’t really decide,” said S9 student Charlie McAteer. “[It would be good to have] at least till the end of the month.”

Even though all changes are final, there is still some leeway. Mrs. McCulley stated that it is not hard to change a class later in the year, ¨It depends on the time of the year and class availability.¨