Spring and Thoughts of Scheduling....

I love spring! Not only for the hint of warmer weather it promises because, for those of us on Cape Cod, we know that to be a cruel illusion. No, I love spring for the promise of the new school year it suggests. Every spring I begin the scheduling ritual and I am always encouraged because the process, though often tedious and frustrating, is also an exciting time of renewal. Though they would be reluctant to admit it, students are also excited to be selecting their courses for next year, a process which suggests that they are inching closer to that goal of graduating from high school and moving on the the next challenging phase of their lives. For me the scheduling process is a time of hope and optimism. It is also a time of challenges and ultimate success. Building a master schedule for a small school is daunting to say the least. Most of the courses we offer at CHS are singletons which makes conflicts inevitable. We ask students to indicate their course preferences and we do our best to accommodate them. Our first priority is to make sure every student gets what he or she needs and then we try to get them the courses they want. In a sense, we suggest to students the advice in the Rolling Stones song, "You can't always get what you want, but in the end you'll find, you get what you need!"

The real fun begins after the master schedule is set and the conflicts abound. Resolving schedule conflicts is like solving a Rubiks Cube. We make a few changes here and resolve a few conflicts only to create five more conflicts somewhere else in the schedule. But, in the end, we are encouraged that all of our students will have a schedule and we will be ready to go come September. That's what keeps me going throughout the spring and why I enjoy it so much!

For those of you who sat down with your son or daughter and discussed course selection with them over the past few weeks...thank you! Most of the course requests are now in and they look very good. Students seem to be selecting courses which will challenge them and suggest that they are not just looking for an easy way out. You and they have done a wonderful job and managed to get the forms in on deadline. Now it's time for me to get to work!