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The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

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Administration begins shift towards online class registration

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Assistant principal Kimberly Diorio explains Palo Alto High School’s new online class registration process. Students will receive more detailed instructions regarding online course selection during Advisory. – Jeffrey LuPalo Alto High School students will submit their course selections both on paper and online this year as the administration begins transitioning to a web-based class registration process.

Students will receive instructions regarding the online registration process at their next Advisory period, according to assistant principal Kimberly Diorio.

“All the students are going to be using Infinite Campus to select their courses for next year,” Diorio said. “At tomorrow’s Advisory, which is for freshmen [with last names] A-K and all juniors, students will be receiving instructions, along with their course catalog and a worksheet that will show all the available courses by grade level. Once students enter their [course selection] information electronically, we’ll close the window on Infinite Campus and students will then turn in a hard-copy to their teacher adviser with a parent signature.”

Diorio stressed the importance of Advisory attendance in the coming weeks, as teacher advisers will be walking students through the online registration process.

“We will be sending out an e-mail probably tonight through Infinite Campus reminding freshmen and juniors to come to tomorrow’s Advisory,” Diorio said.”It’s very important for them to be there and get the information. You’ll see a video with a student walking through and demonstrating the [online course selection] process. We have also prepared a PowerPoint and a lesson plan for the teacher advisers.”

Freshmen with last names starting with L-Z and sophomores will meet with their teacher advisers next Tuesday.

Students should complete their course selections on Infinite Campus by Feb. 28, when the online registration window closes. In addition to the main course selection portal, Infinite Campus will display teacher-recommended courses specific to each student.

“What students are going to see in Infinite Campus are some recommended courses that their world language and science teachers have recommended them for, as well as their math recommendation,” Diorio said. “That will be unique for each student.”

The online registration process also allows students to note any sports they plan to participate in during the next school year. This feature will enable the administration to gather more specific information about students athletes, which will contribute to the shaping of next year’s master schedule.

“One of the things we will be asking our athletes is what sports specifically they will be playing at Paly,” Diorio said. “One of the things on our old paper form was a check box for two or three sport athletes; we want to capture that same information [online]. What’s nice about Infinite Campus is that we’re going to be more specific and really get a sense of who our athletes are, so that when we’re building our master schedule, we’re really supporting students.”

Diorio hinted that the new online system could also better cater to students with non-athletic, after school extracurricular activities in the future.

“[Assistant principal] Kathie Laurence is very passionate about making sure that we’re doing a good job supporting our student athletes, but that’s not to say that other extracurriculars aren’t as important,” Diorio said. “Over time, I think we’re going to start to build that [consideration for students with non-athletic extracurriculars] in too. But the athletic piece is important because those are the kids that are really leaving early.”

Among the reasons that contributed to the migration of class registration online was improved timeliness and efficiency.

“The new system is more timely – we’re going to get the [student course selection] information in a more timely manner, and it’s more efficient,” Diorio explained. “It will be more transparent; having the teacher recommendations up there for students, and so that parents can go in to see what teachers have recommended their children for. It’s right there.”

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