Scheduling Conflict... Advice please!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Hi, I’ve never posted here before but I’m a lurker and I figured this would be the best place to get some advice.</p>

<p>Well, my high school is a small secondary school with very limited funds/classes. As such, there are barely any electives and you are basically forced to live with whatever schedule you are given. Last term, I had an art elective five days a week but this term, my art teacher had to replace another teacher within the building so my schedule was switched. I am now being forced to take science research (as are the 90 other kids that were in the various art classes). However, I took science research last year in the tenth grade and went to my guidance counselor and asked her if I could be switched out or if there were any other classes I could take. She basically told me that all juniors are required to have 8 periods a day but I asked if I could do community service around the school and get a credit for that. She responded that yes, that could work and gave me a form and what not to fill out. I got a teacher to approve the community service, took the form back and waited… Now today I went back to her and she told me that the program office denied my request because it’s “not the same class”. My transcript says SCIENCE RESEARCH (10th grade) and the class is titled SCIENCE RESEARCH, so obviously it IS the same class but the program office says because it’s a different teacher that it’s a different class. I reacted to this in a variety of ways but it eventually came down to this:</p>

<li>It’s a “different” class in their eyes.</li>
<li>I “need” an elective to graduate (BS because for an advanced regents diploma you don’t need ANY elective credits and I only need one more regents to get that diploma)</li>
<li>If I say I want to switch out then everyone else will want to switch out too (But no one else has a basis to switch out because no one else took the class.)</li>
<li>I need 8 periods of class a day.</li>
</ol>

<p>All of the above combined does not make me a happy camper. It also sounds to me as if they can’t keep their stories straight as to why I cannot switch out. I already took the class last year and it makes no sense for me to take the same exact class over again :-\ But I don’t know how to go about getting it changed because I already spoke to the counselor… Basically I just want advice on what to do next/ who to speak to next. I asked my counselor this and she said it is up to the “program office” (which actually consists of only one person) to decide which classes you take and that there is nothing she or anyone else can do but I definitely don’t want to retake the class. </p>

<p>Thanks for the help/ advice and for reading the really long post.</p>

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<p>i hate going to a nys school.</p>

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<p>Does parent complaining have any effect at your school? At ours, a student could request something all day long and get nowhere, but if the parent goes sufficiently up the food chain, things happen. Taking the same class twice seems like a waste of time. Are there any on-line options? Dual enrollment options?</p>

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<p>wow thats just ridiculous. did they tell you how the two classes were different? if the counselors arent going to let you change it then write a letter to the principal/board of ed or something or get your parents in to complain. the downside is that counselors might hate you for making such a mess and screw things up in your college app years. dont give up though, its not worth wasting a whole class next year.</p>

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<p>Yes, they told me that they are two different classes although they are both titled "Science Research". The science research on my transcript is Sci Research 1/2 and the one on my current report card is Sci Research 1. -_-. Now I asked my counselor if the codes will be different and she basically tells me that she has no idea because she won't be getting transcripts until next week. They just keep throwing me around and giving me all different reasons/excuses as to why they can't switch me out of the stupid class. Now, apparently they're going back on their story and are saying that it's not even legal to have a junior as a teacher assistant, only seniors can have that as an option. I'm getting really ****ed at the run around but I need to schedule an appointment with the Assistant Principal first. My brother (not my parents because they are not as knowledgeable as to how American high schools work) is willing to go speak to the school on Monday but he says that if the classes are actually different then I have no say in the matter. But it still bothers me that they will both show up with the same title... </p>

<p>Oh and also, I am willing to argue the whole 8 periods a day thing because I do take two college classes after school (Sociology and Statistics) at nearby colleges so it's not likeI'm going home twiddling my thumbs. I think the reasoning behind the 8 periods a day is that they want you to be "academically challenged" but how challenging is it to take the same damn class twice? A class that I don't even need to graduate but because they're **** poor and can't offer anything else I'm basically forced to take? This is so awful.</p>