So annoyed with course registration at WJ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, lots of kids that register right on time do not get every class they ask for.

Hmmm... no, at least not at WJ.

Yes at WJ. They brag that the benefit of a big school is so many class choices, but my 2 children found themselves locked out of many of their choices over the years.

And, there will be movement during the first 2 weeks of school. If this is the issue which you want to battle, I would start with the head of counseling, include your original emails with the requests for xx classes and they ever approved by the IEP team. Copy the class AVP. That should solve the problem.

On the other hand, it could be that your counselor is trying to help you, and you don't even know it. Perhaps the course your child, and you, want, has a teacher that isn't good with IEP students. There are several at WJ who don't believe in them and think the students are trying to "put one over" on the school. No matter how much you and your child advocate, with one of those teachers, trust me, it won't make any difference. Even though it is the law. They don't care and will make your child miserable and you crazy.

I would touch base with a parent with older kids before you make too big of a fuss. Ask them which teachers/classes to avoid.

OP here. Thank you. It's Sociology. Have you heard anything good or bad about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would push for intervention yes. But condolences, all these counselors are total BS.

In my experience, most resent having to do any work and will try to do nothing as much as possible. I had to show up at my counselor's office daily to get them to make changes and they only did it because they were sick of seeing me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, lots of kids that register right on time do not get every class they ask for.

Hmmm... no, at least not at WJ.

Yes at WJ. They brag that the benefit of a big school is so many class choices, but my 2 children found themselves locked out of many of their choices over the years.

And, there will be movement during the first 2 weeks of school. If this is the issue which you want to battle, I would start with the head of counseling, include your original emails with the requests for xx classes and they ever approved by the IEP team. Copy the class AVP. That should solve the problem.

On the other hand, it could be that your counselor is trying to help you, and you don't even know it. Perhaps the course your child, and you, want, has a teacher that isn't good with IEP students. There are several at WJ who don't believe in them and think the students are trying to "put one over" on the school. No matter how much you and your child advocate, with one of those teachers, trust me, it won't make any difference. Even though it is the law. They don't care and will make your child miserable and you crazy.

I would touch base with a parent with older kids before you make too big of a fuss. Ask them which teachers/classes to avoid.

OP here. Thank you. It's Sociology. Have you heard anything good or bad about it?

Sociology is an elective. If your child is a Freshman, and the course is over subscribed, you're out of luck. Upperclassmen get dibs over Freshman when it comes to over subscribed electives since Freshmen have three more years they can take the elective. You also realize that most electives are non-supported i.e. no co-teacher or Para in the room, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is an incoming student to Walter Johnson HS, and after an IEP meeting this spring, I contacted his counselor with his course requests for the upcoming school year, thinking that an early request would prevent issues like full classes. She kept putting me off, and trying to confirm an erroneous list of courses, and it dragged on until now, when she says one class he particularly wanted to take is full. If she had been more competent, he could have gotten into his initial pick of classes that had already been approved by his WJ IEP team.

Do you think I can contact the IEP team lead and ask her to intervene? This list was all set since March.

NP here. I was following this thread with some sympathy, until you said the desired course was Sociology. You are under a mistaken impression if you think that having an IEP just lets you ignore all of the school's procedures for course placement, especially when it is an elective course. This isn't the counselor's fault. It's your misunderstanding of the process. If you are coming from an MCPS middle school, you should have been following the normal registration process that happens at every MS as part of articulation to high school. If you are coming from private, you should have been able to figure out that there is a lot of useful information on the website. Regardless, I'm going to help you out so you can find the information next year.

Going to WJ's counseling page https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/wjhs/counseling/
you can find a link to their course bulletin which brings you to their detailed Google Site https://sites.google.com/mcpsmd.net/walter-johnson-hs-course-bulle/home
There is a very useful 9th grade FAQ page https://sites.google.com/mcpsmd.net/walter-johnson-hs-course-bulle/9th-gr-faqs?authuser=0
and this is the 9th grade registration card https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kaiO-sE2ymJrabN5ifauCCLS0I1O_n5c/view

You will see that Sociology is not a course that 9th graders may take. According to the Social Studies department, that course is available as an elective to 11th and 12th grade (which is typical for all HS).
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10oGlkn-ZpNpRZ0EjVOOUjhf-mU_bcecDDztDLAaQ89Q/edit

As a 9th and 10th grade student in MCPS the focus is for students to complete their high school required courses.
Math and English - all 4 years.
Science and History/Gov - 3 years.
Tech, PE, Art, Health A/B - typically 2 in 9th, one in 10th, and Health somewhere
completer program - world language or other program

Until you have your core requirements done in 9th and 10th, you don't get access to electives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you. It's Sociology. Have you heard anything good or bad about it?

If it is the CLEP class, I wouldn't waste your time. Teacher is dull, class not nearly as good as it should be. My child spent every day in that class on their phone watching Netflix, got an A, and then couldn't take the CLEP exam, because Covid prevented it from being offered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, lots of kids that register right on time do not get every class they ask for.

Hmmm... no, at least not at WJ.

Yes at WJ. They brag that the benefit of a big school is so many class choices, but my 2 children found themselves locked out of many of their choices over the years.

And, there will be movement during the first 2 weeks of school. If this is the issue which you want to battle, I would start with the head of counseling, include your original emails with the requests for xx classes and they ever approved by the IEP team. Copy the class AVP. That should solve the problem.

On the other hand, it could be that your counselor is trying to help you, and you don't even know it. Perhaps the course your child, and you, want, has a teacher that isn't good with IEP students. There are several at WJ who don't believe in them and think the students are trying to "put one over" on the school. No matter how much you and your child advocate, with one of those teachers, trust me, it won't make any difference. Even though it is the law. They don't care and will make your child miserable and you crazy.

I would touch base with a parent with older kids before you make too big of a fuss. Ask them which teachers/classes to avoid.

OP here. Thank you. It's Sociology. Have you heard anything good or bad about it?

Sociology is an elective. If your child is a Freshman, and the course is over subscribed, you're out of luck. Upperclassmen get dibs over Freshman when it comes to over subscribed electives since Freshmen have three more years they can take the elective. You also realize that most electives are non-supported i.e. no co-teacher or Para in the room, right?

OP here. Student is a senior and does not need a paraeducator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you. It's Sociology. Have you heard anything good or bad about it?

If it is the CLEP class, I wouldn't waste your time. Teacher is dull, class not nearly as good as it should be. My child spent every day in that class on their phone watching Netflix, got an A, and then couldn't take the CLEP exam, because Covid prevented it from being offered.

Thanks for this information!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just remember, lots of kids that register right on time do not get every class they ask for.

Hmmm... no, at least not at WJ.

Yes at WJ. They brag that the benefit of a big school is so many class choices, but my 2 children found themselves locked out of many of their choices over the years.

And, there will be movement during the first 2 weeks of school. If this is the issue which you want to battle, I would start with the head of counseling, include your original emails with the requests for xx classes and they ever approved by the IEP team. Copy the class AVP. That should solve the problem.

On the other hand, it could be that your counselor is trying to help you, and you don't even know it. Perhaps the course your child, and you, want, has a teacher that isn't good with IEP students. There are several at WJ who don't believe in them and think the students are trying to "put one over" on the school. No matter how much you and your child advocate, with one of those teachers, trust me, it won't make any difference. Even though it is the law. They don't care and will make your child miserable and you crazy.

I would touch base with a parent with older kids before you make too big of a fuss. Ask them which teachers/classes to avoid.

OP here. Thank you. It's Sociology. Have you heard anything good or bad about it?

Sociology is an elective. If your child is a Freshman, and the course is over subscribed, you're out of luck. Upperclassmen get dibs over Freshman when it comes to over subscribed electives since Freshmen have three more years they can take the elective. You also realize that most electives are non-supported i.e. no co-teacher or Para in the room, right?

OP here. Student is a senior and does not need a paraeducator.

Then why is placement in that particular class something that should be granted just because they have an IEP?

[Anonymous]

If he is a senior, shouldn’t he be figuring out course registration for himself?

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand why having an IEP gives you preference in electives.
I thought you get priority in certain classes like Math and English so you can schedule math in the morning or afternoon or whatever works best for your kid. Or you get to pick the teacher because they are more experienced and can teach in ways that match your kid’s learning style. Or perhaps 7th period for a foreign language would not work for your kid. But electives tend to be lower priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you put his course preferences in on the site, or just email them to the counselor? IEPs don't guarantee course placements except for inclusion sections. Contacting administration will just make you look like a psycho who doesn't get that your child isn't more important than any other child.

OP here. There was no way to input online directly, I had to go through a particular person. I contacted them in *March*, PP. At the time everyone told me there would be no problem, they'd get him registered. The admin person kept emailing me the wrong courses, I kept saying "no, this is actually the list that was approved", and so on, until TODAY, when she said, "oh by the way there's this one course I just checked and there's no more space".

Who does that?

It's not like we requested a course change at the last minute. I specifically tried to register him as soon as we could, right after the IEP team approved the schedule last spring.

What do you mean there was nowhere to input the courses? Did you go to the course registration page? If all you did was email classes to the counselor, you missed a step. Tell Larlo it was your fault he didn't get the class he wanted and don't embarrass him by acting like his IEP puts him at the front of the registration line for elective classes.

OP here. I followed directions. I'm not sure why this is so hard to understand. I was told to contact one particular person and not use the website. And yes, I was also told, very explicitly, that the IEP would give him priority for classes. Hence my surprise. Otherwise I wouldn't be on here complaining, PP!

People are responding with confusion because what you describe is not the typical registration process. We go to a different school but if I recall, course selection was in January and involved entering things into the computer system. We were told that we couldn't make changes after January.

To be honest, I'm sure there must be a process whereby counselors can do something manually for new students in the period between March and June 15. But people are saying you skipped a step because what you describe is way past the date whereby they tell us no changes. (And schools are closed over the summer, so if I were to email my counselor for a change of schedule over summer I'm pretty sure nothing would happen til the week before school begins.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you put his course preferences in on the site, or just email them to the counselor? IEPs don't guarantee course placements except for inclusion sections. Contacting administration will just make you look like a psycho who doesn't get that your child isn't more important than any other child.

OP here. There was no way to input online directly, I had to go through a particular person. I contacted them in *March*, PP. At the time everyone told me there would be no problem, they'd get him registered. The admin person kept emailing me the wrong courses, I kept saying "no, this is actually the list that was approved", and so on, until TODAY, when she said, "oh by the way there's this one course I just checked and there's no more space".

Who does that?

It's not like we requested a course change at the last minute. I specifically tried to register him as soon as we could, right after the IEP team approved the schedule last spring.

What do you mean there was nowhere to input the courses? Did you go to the course registration page? If all you did was email classes to the counselor, you missed a step. Tell Larlo it was your fault he didn't get the class he wanted and don't embarrass him by acting like his IEP puts him at the front of the registration line for elective classes.

OP here. I followed directions. I'm not sure why this is so hard to understand. I was told to contact one particular person and not use the website. And yes, I was also told, very explicitly, that the IEP would give him priority for classes. Hence my surprise. Otherwise I wouldn't be on here complaining, PP!

People are responding with confusion because what you describe is not the typical registration process. We go to a different school but if I recall, course selection was in January and involved entering things into the computer system. We were told that we couldn't make changes after January.

To be honest, I'm sure there must be a process whereby counselors can do something manually for new students in the period between March and June 15. But people are saying you skipped a step because what you describe is way past the date whereby they tell us no changes. (And schools are closed over the summer, so if I were to email my counselor for a change of schedule over summer I'm pretty sure nothing would happen til the week before school begins.)

Exactly. By the time OP registered by emailing the counselor, everyone else was ahead in line for an elective class. OP unjustifiably calling the counselor incompetent is indicative of what is wrong with so many parents today. Disrespectful Karen.

[Anonymous]

OP here.

The only reason I am disappointed and surprised is that I was told in March that there would be no problem with registering for those classes.

Again, otherwise I would not be here complaining! Obviously I understand we were not in the standard registration period. I was expecting issues, and was so relieved when everyone was reassuring. Now it appears I shouldn’t have believed them, and maybe we’re lucky it only happened to one class!

I didn’t know what I didn’t know, is the point here. You guys keep thinking of the standard process, but this was not a standard process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you put his course preferences in on the site, or just email them to the counselor? IEPs don't guarantee course placements except for inclusion sections. Contacting administration will just make you look like a psycho who doesn't get that your child isn't more important than any other child.

OP here. There was no way to input online directly, I had to go through a particular person. I contacted them in *March*, PP. At the time everyone told me there would be no problem, they'd get him registered. The admin person kept emailing me the wrong courses, I kept saying "no, this is actually the list that was approved", and so on, until TODAY, when she said, "oh by the way there's this one course I just checked and there's no more space".

Who does that?

It's not like we requested a course change at the last minute. I specifically tried to register him as soon as we could, right after the IEP team approved the schedule last spring.

What do you mean there was nowhere to input the courses? Did you go to the course registration page? If all you did was email classes to the counselor, you missed a step. Tell Larlo it was your fault he didn't get the class he wanted and don't embarrass him by acting like his IEP puts him at the front of the registration line for elective classes.

OP here. I followed directions. I'm not sure why this is so hard to understand. I was told to contact one particular person and not use the website. And yes, I was also told, very explicitly, that the IEP would give him priority for classes. Hence my surprise. Otherwise I wouldn't be on here complaining, PP!

People are responding with confusion because what you describe is not the typical registration process. We go to a different school but if I recall, course selection was in January and involved entering things into the computer system. We were told that we couldn't make changes after January.

To be honest, I'm sure there must be a process whereby counselors can do something manually for new students in the period between March and June 15. But people are saying you skipped a step because what you describe is way past the date whereby they tell us no changes. (And schools are closed over the summer, so if I were to email my counselor for a change of schedule over summer I'm pretty sure nothing would happen til the week before school begins.)

I did not email over the summer.
I emailed in early March, as soon as the IEP meeting was over, because they needed to approve the classes. I could not register my son before the meeting, and the meeting could only be scheduled then!
The school has been in charge of these dates, I did not pick them!

*Now* the counselor tells me one class is full. I suspect she forgot to add them in, did it this week, and oops, one is full.

You guys are infuriating. Don’t pin this on me, when I go above and beyond every single day to support a teen with special needs. I don’t appreciate incompetence, when I am expected to be hypercompetent all the time, and catch other people’s mistakes, and I don’t need extra judgement and intolerance from lucky parents who don’t need to deal with this crap.

[Anonymous]

I've followed this thread because I parent a child with special needs and I have kids at WJ so I know it well. And I want to be on your side OP, but this just doesn't make sense. You are venting to us because your kid didn't get a .5 credit social studies elective?