by Amari Collins
Students in Memphis and Shelby County are all under one system this year. Since becoming unified, many changes have occurred, impacting schools and students directly.
“It has made the guidance counselors’ jobs primarily a lot harder mainly because it’s a new system,” stated principal Dr. Ted Horrell.
On the first day, more students than usual had schedule issues, causing a line out the door in V Guidance office most mornings. Luckily these issues have been corrected.
“Every student who said they had a scheduling issue has had it fixed; however, there are some classes bigger than others,” said guidance counselor Fran Odom.
The class overload has been difficult for students because many students’ schedules changed, some those without a problem with their classes.
“I have a class of 35… I think a crowded classroom is not the ideal situation but at the same time, it isn’t the worse thing,” stated English teacher Daniel Ford.
Having an overcrowded class, though, has not made it hard to accommodate all the students in one room.
“My class of 35 runs just as well as the other ones do… if it was a different mix of students, it would be a little harder to deal with,” Ford said.
Despite the problems with scheduling, school officials were able to resolve most of the problems.
“We want the students to know that our guidance department did everything they could possibly do to give them the classes that they wanted,” said Horrell.
Also since becoming unified, the Powerschool that legacy Shelby County students once knew is no longer being used.
“We have Powerschool SMS; it’s a lot different and makes things more difficult because we had to use different course codes and learn a whole new computer program,” said Odom.
Powerschool SMS wasn’t available for teachers for the first month of school. Even with partial access, teachers still had to find a way to track attendance and grades.
“I had to start writing down grades for the first time since my first year of teaching,” said Ford.
Students were unable to access grades until the beginning of September, using Parent Connect.
“I was so stressed out with the fact that I wasn’t able to see my grades at during the first month because I wanted to make sure I was starting the year off right,” said senior Bobby Collins.
Though students now have access to their grades, the system is not perfect. Many students report having missing or incorrect grades. Also, with the new setup, students stated that finding individual class grades and information is not as easily accessible as it was with the old Powerschool.
Students in Memphis and Shelby County are all under one system this year. Since becoming unified, many changes have occurred, impacting schools and students directly.
“It has made the guidance counselors’ jobs primarily a lot harder mainly because it’s a new system,” stated principal Dr. Ted Horrell.
On the first day, more students than usual had schedule issues, causing a line out the door in V Guidance office most mornings. Luckily these issues have been corrected.
“Every student who said they had a scheduling issue has had it fixed; however, there are some classes bigger than others,” said guidance counselor Fran Odom.
The class overload has been difficult for students because many students’ schedules changed, some those without a problem with their classes.
“I have a class of 35… I think a crowded classroom is not the ideal situation but at the same time, it isn’t the worse thing,” stated English teacher Daniel Ford.
Having an overcrowded class, though, has not made it hard to accommodate all the students in one room.
“My class of 35 runs just as well as the other ones do… if it was a different mix of students, it would be a little harder to deal with,” Ford said.
Despite the problems with scheduling, school officials were able to resolve most of the problems.
“We want the students to know that our guidance department did everything they could possibly do to give them the classes that they wanted,” said Horrell.
Also since becoming unified, the Powerschool that legacy Shelby County students once knew is no longer being used.
“We have Powerschool SMS; it’s a lot different and makes things more difficult because we had to use different course codes and learn a whole new computer program,” said Odom.
Powerschool SMS wasn’t available for teachers for the first month of school. Even with partial access, teachers still had to find a way to track attendance and grades.
“I had to start writing down grades for the first time since my first year of teaching,” said Ford.
Students were unable to access grades until the beginning of September, using Parent Connect.
“I was so stressed out with the fact that I wasn’t able to see my grades at during the first month because I wanted to make sure I was starting the year off right,” said senior Bobby Collins.
Though students now have access to their grades, the system is not perfect. Many students report having missing or incorrect grades. Also, with the new setup, students stated that finding individual class grades and information is not as easily accessible as it was with the old Powerschool.