Carroll students gain control with new high school scheduling

A new high school scheduling system will give Carroll students more control over their school day, district officials said.

Arena Scheduling will allow students—next year’s freshmen through seniors—to create their own schedule, similar to college systems.

“Students like the flexibility of being able to choose when to take classes,” said P.J. Giamanco, principal at Carroll High School.

For example, one student may prefer to take a math class early in the day while another wants an afternoon session, he said.

After students fill out the normal course requests, officials at Carroll High School and Carroll Senior High School will develop the master schedule. From the master schedule, next year’s seniors will choose when they want to take their classes from the available options. After several days for seniors, incoming juniors have a turn, followed by sophomores and freshmen.

The course request period opened Feb. 17 and will close Feb. 26. The master schedule is slated to be completed by the last week in March when incoming seniors will go online to schedule classes.

Giamanco said the biggest challenge for administrators, registrars and counselors will be to complete the master schedule in a month. In the past they have had almost three months.

After freshmen schedule classes, counselors will address problems. The goal is for students to know their unofficial schedule for next year before the end of the current year, Giamanco said.

For more information, go to www.southlakecarroll.edu and look for “Student Scheduling Process” in the scrolling list of district news items.

This story was originally published February 21, 2017 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Carroll students gain control with new high school scheduling."