This year, Seneca Valley is using an online registration program to schedule classes for the 2017-2018 school year, and it is not working efficiently.

In previous years, scheduling has been done using a sheet of paper with boxes that outline future courses. In order to complete the sheet, teachers have to sign course recommendations.

This year, course registration is accessed through a link on the SV Portal. After clicking the link in the box, you are taken to a page with the title “Course Registration Mode.” Next to the title, you can click the alternative page “Four-Year Planning Mode” to decide and arrange classes to take for the rest of your time at Seneca.

When choosing courses to add to your schedule, there are numerous columns dedicated to core classes and electives, such as Social Studies, Science, English, and STEM. Within these columns are “locked-in” course selections that teachers have chosen. From there, students have to choose to take the class in a traditional or cyber setting.

Electives, PE, Arts/Humanities classes are chosen by selecting a course from a pop-up menu. The pop-up menu provides a brief synopsis of the class, but still leaves many questions for students and faculty.

The new scheduling plan has deprived students of the ability to sit in class and follow along as their guidance counselor outlines how to plan for the next year. Teachers were also involved in planning because they had to sign course recommendations. The face-to-face interaction between students and teachers gave students the opportunity to ask questions about their schedule.

The transition paper to a more environmentally friendly online registration is a good idea; however, it has left many students blindsided.

“I feel that it was more organized and easier when it was on the paper,” sophomore Sydney Gibson says, “It seems so much more inconvenient for the teachers.”

Gibson agrees that the new online registration is much more complicated than it needs to be and was too much to give to the students without any formal instruction.

“If the school would have done a trial run on the upcoming freshmen, it would have been much more effective. The eighth graders haven’t had to make a schedule and would have adjusted to the online format better than those of us who are used to the paper,” Gibson told the Scout.

The new format for scheduling requires changes to be more user-friendly for students and will hopefully be updated by the school.