I'm in my second year as Registrar at a private school. Is seems to me that the entire first marking period is a drop add period for students. Though we have a week of drop add at the beginning of the semester, students are able to drop an elective up through the halfway point of the first marking period when progress reports are sent home, without getting a W. And students are also able to change the level of a course (from honors to regular or vice versa) at any time during the first marking period without getting a W. This is disruptive for teachers who's class lists are constantly changing. I was just wondering how other schools handle schedule changes.

well if it was up to you I would say you have to cut down on that time you allow for add/drop. We have a strict 7 day policy, and then it is a WF on their transcript, it cuts that down alot, as well they are only allowed to go into a study hall, NO Credit and we have a strict graduation policy as well so if they do this too much NO Graduation

We have always had the same problem and no matter how firm your change dates there will always be exceptions especially when teachers suggest a level change within a subject. I have always wished that Registrar's Office would give you the option of transferring grades and attendance especially when the change is to a different level of the same subject. Good luck!

Sadly, our system has been and remains pretty much the same as yours. Last year we made the decision that for this year NO drops or adds would be allowed once the school year started (our students get their schedules in July and can make changes then). Students can move up and down the levels (Honors or Regular) throughout the first marking period, and from the very first day of school I have been making at least two schedule changes a day. It is a nuisance. Teachers get tired of changing their class rosters (they are required to keep a "paper and pencil" gradebook in addition to the electronic one) but they are the ones for the most part initiating these changes. Regarding transferring grades from one class section to another, the BB phone help desk yesterday told me that if you go into the CLASS record and use the checkboxes there and WITHDRAW (do not DROP) from the one section and then use the checkboxes to ENROLL into the new section, the grades (and I guess attendance) associated with that student will transfer to the new course section. That seems awfully labor intensive, but that's the way it works. Director of Academic Computing Services Pope John XXIII High School Sparta NJ 07871

I was under the impression ( I think I tried it) that even if you handle the transfers the way that you were told that the transferred courses STILL appeared on the transcript (and report cards) along with the credit attempted for that course which we do not want, especially, in the case of a level change. Is that not the case?

We use version 6 and when a schedule change occurs, you can either drop the course or withdraw from the course. If you don't want the course to show up on transcripts then you should use the drop option. The course literally disappears this way.