It is interesting to me as a parent the lengths to which schools are forced to go to “get a parents attention”. For example, consider the carrot and stick approach used to get a parent in to school to pay the back to school fees. The main event for the school is the paying of the fees and the imparting of information on the new school year. For the parent and the student, it is about getting the schedule of classes. The school withholds the schedule in order to get the parent or students in the door to make sure that they get the information that the school wants them to have.
The scene is crazy. For our local high school, the number of parking spaces at the school does not allow for every single student (even in just one grade) to have a car parked nearby. So, the cars extend into the surrounding neighborhood, and since there is only one street that passes by the school, the traffic jam is something to behold. Is there a better way?
Once inside, the lines are long, and the parent volunteers who man the various stations are relatively uninformed. So are the parents. One parent, after waiting 35 minutes in line was told, sorry, you can’t get your schedule until you pay the book return fee and return the book. This parent, turns to his kid and says “Where is the book?”. The kid, says, “It is on my desk at home”. So, the parent, obviously now feeling late for work, pays the full price of the book, $195, vs. the $70 late fee. Why didn’t he just return home? Who knows? Is there a better way?
The longest lines have to be at the counselor’s table, where they go nose to nose with kids who want to drop, change, switch, or just complain about the classes they received. The most amusing part is watching the parents try to jockey for influence with the counselors to get what they think the kids should have. One parent was overheard making the following argument about why her daughter should be in Integrated Math 3 vs. Integrated Math 2 as a freshman. “You are damaging my daughter’s sense of confidence by putting her in the easy math class. I am sure the school board will take a dim view of this type of blatant abuse”. Now, why would the school board care about this? The counselor tried to explain that the student already had two “tough” classes that semester. Wouldn’t the daughter be better off and more successful with Integrated Math 2? The parent informed the counselor that she knew her daughter much better than the counselor did. The counselor looked at the 20 deep line of kids behind the mother, shrugged her shoulders, and agreed to make the change. Is there a better way?
Wouldn’t it make sense to have done all of this online? Give every parent the choice of paypal or credit card for the fees? Let them interact with counselors using chat, perhaps even video chat. Better yet, give parents and students limited ability to make schedule changes themselves. Isn’t this what almost every college kid does now?
But, aren’t there things that have to be done in person, such as checking gas bills to prove the family lives at the place they say they do? Create an on-line way to send in a scanned copy of the gas bill. How about the picture of the kid for student ids? Send one in via the web. Or, create a link to facebook where the photo can be downloaded? Why pay a company to take the photos? Give out the id card at school the first day.
The main point is that there are a ton of alternatives to the craziness of schedule pickup day. But, perhaps all the craziness is an important part of the school experience? Maybe lots of people look forward to it? Nah.
