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Ladysmith Secondary School students Grace Twedt, Alexa Spanevello, Kassandra Webber and Kennedy Hayes say they’re upset over course schedules that failed to meet their expectations, a position they say they share with hundreds of their fellow LSS students. The school delayed the distribution of student timetables until the first day of classes this year, said LSS principal Dave Street, leading to a flood of last-minute requests from students seeking revisions to their course schedules. Responding to complaints regarding long waits for scheduling changes, Street said LSS staff members were doing everything they possibly could to address the concerns of parents and students. NICK BEKOLAY/THE CHRONICLE
Timetable troubles fuel tension at LSS LSS principal asks parents and students for their patience
Students lament unwanted spares, online courses
Nick Bekolay
Nick Bekolay
THE CHRONICLE
Principal Dave Street asks students and parents upset over unexpected changes to their timetables to place their faith in Ladysmith Secondary School’s administrative staff and counsellors. LSS counsellors are working 12 hours a day as they revise students’ timetables and match students to available courses, Street said, and he assured parents and students alike that “we’ve got a handle on things.” Street credited LSS’s two counsellors with working “upwards of 12-plus hours a day to accommodate students’ needs” in
spite of being met with “more abuse than they ever have” before. Having to contend with people exhibiting “very little tact” when communicating their timetable concerns with the school’s counselling staff means the counsellors “deserve a huge pat on the back for what they’ve been doing.” Traditionally, LSS has always distributed the following year’s completed course schedules to students in June, Street explained, providing students and parents with an opportunity to work with counsellors on revised schedules through early July and the last week of August. This year, however, LSS chose to distribSee School Page 4
THE CHRONICLE
As the first full week of classes unfolded at Ladysmith Secondary School, a hefty portion of the school’s students was left biding its time as counsellors scrambled to fill in the gaps in students’ timetables. Course schedules handed out on day one of the new school year failed to meet the needs or expectations of close to half of the school’s students, and the school hasn’t addressed students’ concerns quickly enough, say LSS students. Grade 11 student Alexa Spanevello
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said the writing and English literature courses she thought she’d signed up for failed to materialize, a considerable inconvenience in light of her future aspirations. “I want to be an English teacher when I’m older,” she explained. Instead of devoting her time to studying Orwell or Shakespeare, Spanevello said she’s found herself in a “placeholder class” that, as of Friday afternoon, had yet to be filled. When she filled out her course survey last spring, Spanevello said she “definitely thought” that by jotting down her course selections, LSS would See Students Page 5