Absence of Priority Processing Poses Inconvenience

JOHNNY HUYNH
Staff Writer

In the past, standing under the sun in lines for priority processing meant that a new school year was starting. It allowed students to turn in paperwork and address their schedule conflicts with counselors on a grade priority basis before school began. However, priority processing did not take place this year. Most of the paperwork was dealt with before summer break and dealing with students’ schedules became a delayed task.
During the first week of school, the Guidance Office was crowded with students carrying various complaints, mostly consisting of the need to correct their schedules. Some students saw the absence of priority processing to be the cause of their discontent.
“Scheduling this year was completely off; [it] seems [like] the counselors just randomly picked classes for everyone,” senior Hector Escobar said.
Common problems regarding schedules included getting or dropping an honors or Advanced Placement (AP) class, or another course a student did not want.
“It’s horrible because the people who need their classes […] are not getting them,” junior Bianca Nguyen said.
The administration is also facing continuing dilemmas. For one thing, financial hardships still remain, causing uncertainty for certain programs and courses. In addition to the student body decrease from 3040 to around 2800 students, nine faculty members were eliminated from staff.
The decrease in faculty poses yet another problem on whether some classes may remain. Usually, teachers are provided a master schedule of all the courses they are able to provide, but administration was unable to guarantee students earlier decisions on class changes.
A new feature has appeared on the PowerSchool family portal that allows students to request an AP course change. About 80 percent of requests were approved online.
“I do not feel that priority processing is necessary if you’re fine with your schedule,” senior Megan Mungcal said.