Budget cuts, messy schedules, and missing classes. As the Irvington student body has begun to settle into the 2023-2024 school year, students and teachers have been scrambling to change schedules and fit students into courses. Although schedule changes are common in the first two weeks of Irvington, the intense amount of problematic schedules, overloaded classes, and students forced into courses they didn’t sign up for has caused stress for students and teachers alike.
Counselors and assistant principals worked through the last few weeks of summer to prep schedules, sorting students as best as possible. Principal Stan Hicks explains that declining enrollment at Irvington required 7 teachers to be let go, resulting in the removal of 35 classes. Due to a reduced number of teachers, restrictions based on family classes, prioritizing graduation requirements for seniors, and cut classes, not all schedule requests could be accommodated. The staff took time to individually add each student who requested a schedule change to a spreadsheet, and one by one, they went through in hopes to change their classes. Every student who requested was looked at.” Principal Hicks continues, “We don’t want people thinking we didn’t look at them.”
Sheethal Mohandas, head of the math department, discusses, “We only have two sections of regular calculus this year. If a few kids in AP Calculus find the class difficult, there is no place for them to go.” “They are the ones who signed up for that. But you know, kids are kids. At that time they believe that they can handle it,” Ms. Mohandas adds.
Audrey Chao (12) explains how she got Kinesiology and Dance for her electives. Chao recounted, “I’m a CCA student, and I chose AP Art History and the Animation ROP class for my electives. I got Dance, Drama 2, and Kinesiology, which are classes that I never requested. I was kind of frustrated because these are classes that are way out of my niche. Throughout the process, I guess I was just really uncomfortable in these classes because they are things that I wouldn’t typically do. In the end, I did get my schedule worked out, and I am happy with it now.”
Previously, Irvington had the privilege to have many extra classes due to high projection numbers — the estimate of how many students will attend. This year, projection numbers were low, causing classes to be cut. All schedules were void of zero periods, and electives such as Literature and Film, Ethnic Studies, and AP Music Theory were removed.
“In an ideal world,” Mr. Hicks says, “what you pick in the spring we’d give, but when you have 60 people apply for an AP class and there’s only 33 spots…We can’t do it. We’re bound contractually by law. Students will come and say, well, she’s only got 33 students, What’s one more? Contractionaly, I cannot do that. And so there’s a lot of factors. We have to balance it.”
The scheduling process this year caused many changes, but as the school settles into new classes and schedules, a similar problem next year is unexpected. As management is updated on schedules, Irvington can expect a quicker settling-in process in the future.
