Scheduling Conflict Troubles Costa Seniors

Stacy Cruz
Staff Writer

Due to the fact that AP Gov/Econ and AP French are both exclusively offered during fourth period, many Costa seniors have had to choose between the two courses.

According to Vice Principal Ian Drummond, the master schedule was set by a PowerSchool automated system. It was then reviewed by each department chair, and adjusted when teachers saw a conflict.

“I did move a handful of classes that had to be offered fifth period or any specific period,” Drummond said. “But at no point was it addressed to me that AP Government and AP Economics had to be moved, nor the AP French class.”

According to Drummond, singleton classes, classes that are only offered one period of the day, like AP French and AP Gov/Econ conflict with any period administrators try to fit them into.

“At the heart of the matter, is the singleton classes,” Drummond said. “There is no perfect place for these classes and there are certain periods that are off the table, such as sixth.”

Costa senior Sarah Kennedy is unable to take AP French because of AP Gov/Econ. Both classes overlap and are exclusively offered during fourth period.

“This has been an issue for years, and it could be fixed by simply switching the class periods or creating more class periods,” Kennedy said.

According to Principal Ben Dale, the zero through fourth period schedule of many seniors causes more difficulty in the scheduling with singleton classes

“We don’t have many fifth periods,” said Dale. “We’re spreading these singletons first through fourth period which really limits the possibilities.”

According to Drummond, the objective of the master schedule is to serve the needs of as many students as possible. The master schedule looks at percentages and places the classes in periods that will conflict with the least amount of students.

“Next year, I can look and see if there are some courses that seem to bud up against each other,” Drummond said. “I’ll see if putting one of them in a different period solves the problem, even if its overriding what the system tells me to do.”