Throughout the past week, students have been working on and turning in their enrollment cards for next year and figuring out what classes they want to take. There are various steps that go into enrollment and making sure that everything is correct and ready. SM North counselor Deanna Griffey oversees student enrollment and everything that goes along with it.

“First of all, the district has to approve and publish the new Program Planning Guide which has all the classes that are offered at all 5 high schools,” Griffey said. “It also has graduation information, NCAA, credits, Signature Programs and more.”

It is then that counselors will focus on the building and what classes will be offered at each grade level, and use that information to make the Grade level course listing sheets for students.

“The counselors like to have a group presentation to their alpha grade levels explaining the process and helping the students get started with their Course Request Sheets,” Griffey said. “Once we talk with students and collect the Course Request Sheets, we then have to input those classes into Skyward.”

Once administration determines what classes and how many sections need to be offered, the district uses that information to figure out staffing for the building.

“Once the district has determined staffing, then our building Admin develops the Master Schedule for the year,” Griffey said. “It comes back to the Counselors and we then make sure all students have a full schedule with 7 classes.”

Students get about 1-2 weeks to fill out their enrollment cards and submit them. They also receive recommendations from their math and ELA teachers in Skyward for what classes they should take based on their grades and performance last semester.

“I would say [to students], please think carefully about the classes you choose,” Griffey said. “Make sure you have taken any prerequisites needed for a class you want to take.”

The spread of COVID-19 has also complicated things, and counselors have had to adapt to the changes. Counselors couldn’t have group presentations and weren’t able to answer “real time” questions from students. 

“We developed a Sign Up Genius for primarily the Remote students so they could schedule with us a time to meet on WebEx to ask questions and finalize their course requests,” Griffey said. “Everything for everyone has been harder this year; it is just something we have to deal with and keep moving forward.”