The class registration deadline arrives too soon, and it needs to be pushed back to a later date.

Last year, current students enrolled in their classes for the 2018-2019 school year between Jan. 17 and Jan. 24. How can a student who doesn’t even know what they want for lunch be expected to know what they want to do for seven hours a day, eight months from now? The only plausible reason for the deadline being this early is so the school can figure out staffing for the next school year, but what good does that do if everyone gets a schedule change come August anyway?  Some students have no idea what classes they are going to pick until they are sitting at the computer picking them, all while being rushed by counselors and other students to finish. This can cause students to choose classes they aren’t interested in and go through the next school year bored all school day, which will often lead to bad grades.

If Howell really wants to make an attempt to have kids excited to go to class everyday the deadline should be pushed back to sometime in March, and course discussions should start in January. This will lead to fewer schedule changes come August, more interested kids, and will give the school more accurate numbers for staffing.