In early January, the online scheduling system process opened for students to start choosing classes for the 2014-2015 academic school year. This system has undergone some changes from last year’s system.

“This year the teachers are actually making recommendations based on student [standardized test] scores and [a student’s] current performance in a class. Last year we just [put] the required classes in there, and kids got to pick and choose which classes that they wanted. They still get that, but now the teachers get input as well because I don’t know what the kids are doing in the classroom or if they are capable of doing more,” Mrs. Lauren Sandor, Guidance Counselor, said.

In order to follow the requirements of this new system, teachers had to recommend one course that they thought was appropriate for each of their students for the next school year. Each teacher took a different approach to this and had unique methods for picking classes for their students.

“I am kind of bummed that we can only recommend one course. I don’t want my students thinking that [they] can only take course ‘x’ because that is what was recommended. [When recommending classes], I looked at what students told me they were interested in at the beginning of the year. I looked at what their grades were, but more importantly what they were interested in,” Mrs. Roberta Harnish, Science, said.

All students should be able to access this system by logging into their RDS account and clicking “VIEW COURSE REQUESTS” under the student name. For current juniors the RDS scheduling system opened on Jan. 13 and is still open. For current sophomores the scheduling system opened Feb. 10 and is still open. For current freshman and 8th graders the system opens on Feb. 24.