The Titans have tightened bell schedules this year, and here’s why!

The Titans have tightened bell schedules this year, and here’s why!
By Natalia Miki

New and returning students to Templeton already had an idea of how chaotic their schedules would be this year thanks to MyEd, but the issue only worsened once all the students and faculty were back in the building after summer break. Students’ schedule anxiety was heightened at the beginning of the term because of the technical and administrative issues surrounding the MyEducation BC website. Teens across the VSB expressed their frustrations in only discovering their schedules approximately two days before the start of school, with little time to sit and think about their schedules before the frenzied rush to the counselling suite on September 2nd. On top of that, there had been multiple mix ups in all grades surrounding several core classes that had to be resolved quickly before work started piling up in all the classes. Students Ava Mauboules Santos and Hana Hollingshead in grade 11 both shared their experiences with trying to line up their schedules for the all-important Junior Year. Both Hana and Ava had initially been assigned Pre-Calculus 11 and Pre-Calculus 12 in the same semester and were missing a few sciences they had requested. While Hana was able to move her blocks around with help and devotion from Ms. Michaels, Ava had much trouble trying to get into one of two completely full Pre-Calculus 11 courses during first semester. It was frustrating for Ava, among other stressed-out Grade 11s to work out her schedule and get into some of the core classes she needed to take. Many other grade 11s felt similarly and would take to emailing counsellors regularly to try and squeeze into overflowing classes. The counselling suite even had to be closed for the first few days and was only available for emergencies or for email appointments due to the sheer numbers needing schedule fixes. What was unusual about this year’s frenzied mobs crowding the counsellors and administrative staff was that there was simply no space in some core classes and not enough blocks for the number of students. Ms. Michaels said that she was “trying not to put kids in random classes they don’t want to take,” but wasn’t left with many options as administrators fought with the board for more blocks. For the first few days, many students were in completely odd spaces, such as the grade 12s who were assigned a grade 10 PHE block or the theatre students in the film classroom. Many had completely empty spaces on their timetable, so the library was packed with students and counsellors trying to sort things out. As of now, most students’ schedules have been fixed, for the most part, thanks to the hard work and relentless patience of our school counsellors. We thank them very much and hope that second semester starts a bit less chaotic!

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