Registration & Scheduling

The Newton North registration and scheduling process is structured in a way to promote equitable access to opportunities within the school and to encourage a balance in terms of the breadth and depth of student choice. Newton North builds the school-wide schedule based on requests made by students. Our process has allowed the majority of students to receive all of the courses they request in Spring. Consequently, student requests impact the number of courses and sections of each course that the school is able to run. This impacts staffing decisions which are made in the spring of each school year. In order to meet the needs of students, appropriately staff the building, create optimal class sizes, and remain within budget constraints, we are firm in our position that students may not change course requests after Verification Week, the final week of the registration process.

Steps for Registration

Step 1: Registration (February/March)

Step One: Registration

What: Review recommended courses & request additional courses.
When: February/March
Who: Teachers & Students

Course registration is launched in advisory after February vacation.

The course catalog, Opportunities, and all materials related to course registration are available on the Newton North website.

During the registration and verification process, students are encouraged to consult with their parents/guardians, counselors, teachers, and department heads (if necessary) to determine the proper courses for them to take.

Students should carefully consider course choices to provide appropriate challenge and support within courses and across their schedule because it will not be possible to make changes after the verification process.

Teachers will talk about the course recommendation process in each of their classes and provide students with the opportunity to discuss their individual course recommendations. Then, teachers will enter course recommendations for students into the student management system.

Department heads and counselors are available for consultation throughout Verification Week.

Students will access the student portal (Aspen) and enter additional course requests online.

School counselors will check student course requests for completeness and accuracy.

Step 2: Verification 2026 (March/April)

Step Two: Course Request Verification

What: Review course requests. Verify that they are complete.
When: March 30 – April 6, 2026
Who: Students & Counselors

At the beginning of the Verification Period, students will receive their official registration cards posted in Aspen. These cards will include the courses the teachers recommended and the courses the students added themselves. The Verification Period is the final opportunity for school counselors, students and families to check their course requests for the next school year. Students will be sent a virtual Google form they must submit with a “signature” finalizing their course requests no later than advisory on Monday, April 6, 2026.

Step 3: Build Schedules (April/May)

Step Three: Building Schedules

What: The staffing of the building is determined and the master schedule is built.
When: April/May
Who: Administrators & Scheduler

Department heads work together to determine the number of sections of each course that will be offered based on the number of students requesting each course and budgetary constraints on the building.

The number of sections offered in each course determines the number of teachers hired in each department for the next year.

Our student information system builds the master schedule using algorithms designed to:

Maximize the number of students who receive the maximum number of requested courses.
Minimize the number of conflicts and the number of students who will need to make difficult choices.

Step 4: Counselor Review (June)

Step Four: Counselor Review and Error Correction

What: Counselors review their students schedules for the next year. Errors are corrected.
When: June
Who: Counselors & Scheduler

Counselors review students’ schedules to ensure minimum requirements are met and correct initial errors. Counselors will initiate conversations with students who have conflicts or other problems with their schedule. At this point, some students will need to make difficult choices about which classes to take.

Step 5: Error Correction (Summer)

Step Five: Error Correction through Google Form

What: Students review the list of courses on their schedule and report errors via Google form.
When: July & August
Who: Students & Scheduler

In early July a “List of Classes” will be posted to the Student Portal. This “List of Classes” will include all classes in a student’s schedule, but does not include blocks or teachers.

Students should review the “List of Classes” and report all errors via a Google form which is shared with students via email.

During July and August, the scheduler at Newton North addresses all reported errors that can be fixed easily and refer lingering problems to Virtual Arena Scheduling (scheduled for the week before school starts)

Step 6: Virtual Arena For Error Correction (September)

Step Six: Virtual Arena Scheduling For Schedule Changes

What: Students report schedule errors via Google form.
When: September
Who: Students, Counselors, & Scheduler

Arena Scheduling is an opportunity to report a scheduling error and fix it. During the first few weeks of school, the only way to initiate and complete a schedule change is through the Virtual Arena Scheduling form. If you do not have an error, do not complete the Virtual Arena Scheduling form. Your schedule will not be changed. Students will have access to a Virtual Arena Google form. Any error change requests need to be submitted via the form. If it is a complex error/issue you should meet with your counselor who will review the issue and work with you to develop possible solutions. You, or the counselor will fill out a form that explains the error and the proposed solution. The request on the form will be routed to the appropriate department head(s) for their approval. After the necessary approvals are obtained by the counselor or scheduler, the schedule changes will be made.

Schedule changes will be made only for the following reasons:

Missing a course you requested in April and not receiving an alternate for it
Missing a required course (for example English or PE)
Being enrolled in two sections of the same course
Needing to drop a course as a result of summer school
Having unbalanced quarters/semesters (many more free/study blocks in one semester than the other)
Being under-enrolled
In exceptional cases you can request changes during Virtual Arena.

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