The staff editorial represents the views of The Dart editorial board | 6 out of 6 editors voted in support of this editorial
STA’s modular scheduling system is completely unique – no other school in the metro area uses it, which means we have a lot of exclusive benefits that other schools simply don’t have.  However, that also means that if problems come up, the administration is on their own.  There’s no one else to look up to or compare questions or uncertainties with.
For most students, their schedule fits perfectly.  They can openly enjoy the benefits of modular scheduling – frees, activity period, a college atmosphere.  But for some students the scheduling that is supposed to allow us more freedom and less stress actually does the opposite.  Some students aren’t allowed to take the classes they want because they won’t fit into their schedules, or end up having multiple conflicts that impose hard workloads on girls.
To the individual, weekly conflicts can be an annoyance, but what every STA girl has to remember is that there are 529 other students that go to this school.  After using a computer program to create each girls’ schedule, academic scheduler and registrar Kathy Walters, principal for academic affairs Barbara McCormick, and administrative assistants Julia Berardi and Kelly Drummond spend dozens of extra hours each summer making a master schedule, checking and double checking each student’s schedule for conflicts and trying to let every girl have her first choice of elective.  The administration and faculty at STA  spend more time and put forward more effort making sure students are happy than even colleges do. Obviously not everyone is going to get the exact classes they want at the exact time they want them – that’s impossible.  But students can be sure that the faculty is doing everything they can to make the student body happy.
Although STA has one of the best scheduling systems, in the past they have failed to inform students of major school decisions. Last summer, STA faculty decided to drop the classes Shakespeare and Drama as Literature because not enough students were taking the courses. However, they also failed to inform the students who were taking these two classes that they no longer existed. A major uproar resulted when these students discovered on the first day of school that they didn’t have an English class to take. If the administration needs to inform students of scheduling changes, dropped classes, or conflicts. If they initiated communication among students, STA would have one of the best scheduling systems in the city. Students that are well informed are less likely to disagree with faculty, and in turn, there will be less disagreements over schedules.
A common myth among students is that seniors get first priority when it comes to class availability, however, unless the course description specifies first choice goes to seniors, upper-classmen have no special privileges.  While this gives every student the same opportunity to take the classes they want, maybe seniors should have priority.  Under the current system, a senior wanting to take an anatomy class would have no advantage over a sophomore in the same situation.  Whoever’s schedule fit better with the class would be able to take it.  The Dart thinks it’s only fair that seniors have first choice when it comes to certain classes that fill up quickly.  Seniors need to fulfill credits for graduation, and they should be able to take classes they are interested in their last year at STA.
Modular scheduling is perfect for STA because it gives students more freedom, more class choices and a college environment.  Before complaining about a conflict they have once a week, students should remember how much effort goes into their individual schedule, and what STA would be like without modular scheduling.
