Q: What is a conflict and how does my child deal with this?
A: Conflicts may occur in student's schedule. We generally tell students that they can avoid conflicts with taking 6 credits. The most common occurence in a freshman's schedule is a lunch conflict, meaning they do not have any open mods during the lunch mods of 7-10. This does NOT mean they cannot have lunch! Students have many options. They can pack a lunch and eat during a PLT, they are able to go to the cafeteria and bring lunch back to class, or they can miss some of class to grab lunch if they are more comfortable. If they have a course confict, meaning one class is offered at the same time as another and neither can be moved, there is a process in place for students and teachers to come up with plan. There is an agreement both teachers and students sign that puts an individual plan in place for the student. If students do not feel ready to work through conflicts, they are welcome to see me and we can look at other options which may include changing a class, dropping a class, or moving a class to a different semester.
Q: What is "backscheduling" and what does it mean for my student?
A: Students can be assigned to specific academic resource areas if they are not using their PLT to their benefit. This can be done by teachers, counselors, or administrators in effort to increase the communications and students' advocacy by placing them in the resource centers when their teachers are there if possible. This can help build a relationship outside of class. In addition, teachers in resource areas can help students if they need to make up labs, tests, or missing work.
Q: What is the difference between quarter and semester grades?
A: Quarter 1 grades are essentially a progress report midway through the semester. This is not something that will appear on a student's transcript and does not affect GPA. Semester grades will be due in January which will award credit if the student has passed the class, or in some cases the class would need to be repeated.