Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Registration and Class Schedules

Registration for the upcoming school year takes place next week. The process has not changed much from previous years. There are a few things that we want to draw your attention to before you come in. First of all, many students have already checked out their class schedule through Infinite Campus. If you have not already done that, we encourage you to do so. However, you do need to know that the schedule is not final! Mr. Clark is still making adjustments to balance classes and resolve conflicts. So, what you see today may actually be different tomorrow. It is also important to remember that while we make every effort to meet the requests of each student, it is impossible to do so. Putting a master schedule together is similar to assembling a jigsaw puzzle, but in this case, we often have to go with what creates the fewest conflicts, acknowledging that some students will not get all of the courses they want. This is why we asked students to list alternate choices when they selected classes in the spring. If you check your schedule prior to coming in to register and would like to go over your schedule with Mr. Clark, he will be available.

I also want to mention that we will have activity tickets for sale at registration. I am not sure that people truly understand the cost savings that exists when one purchases a ticket for a student. The Board of Education dropped the price to $30.00 for a ticket that will admit students to all high school and middle school activities except for the play and state sponsored events. With student admission set at $5.00 for football games and $4.00 for other athletic events, by attending five home football games and one volleyball game, you have basically paid for the ticket with many more events ahead! We strongly encourage parents to purchase the tickets as they are the most affordable way for your child to attend events at North Fayette.

Early bird opportunities are once again available to order yearbooks. Students will be on hand to take orders for this coming years book. I got a peak at the 2010 book that just arrived and I am sure that everyone will be impressed by the full-color edition. There are a lot of great photos that capture the essence of the 2009-2010 school year.

You will very quickly get a sense of the changes that are going on in our building once you enter the main doors. At the current time, quite a bit has been torn up and soon things will be put back together. It looks like it will go right down to the wire as far as the high school office being ready for the start of school, and the central office will be finished some time after that. However, ready or not, we will be ready to go when students arrive on August 18! Bob Heins has told me stories of what it was like years ago when he worked on the construction of the building and it was not finished when school started. Block and plank "lockers" and classrooms that had to be emptied at night so they could pour concrete! Wow!

I will be in the building on Monday and Tuesday during registration and invite you to stop in my office to discuss any matter that is on your mind, whether it has to do with school or not! Tuesday evening I leave for our state administrator convention in Des Moines and will be attending sessions Wednesday and Thursday. This is always a good event as SAI brings in a number of strong presenters in the field of education, and it is nice to see friends that I have made throughout my career as a teacher and administrator.