Start of high school classes postponed in Albany

PHOTOGRAPHER: Jill Bryce

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Classes were canceled Wednesday at Albany High School because of a computer problem with the class scheduling system.

Superintendent Eva Joseph, who had expected to be able to open the high school on Thursday, despite some scheduling problems, decided late Wednesday to postpone the school’s opening.

Students in ninth, 10, 11 and 12th grades will not have to report to the school until Monday.

“We continue to have scheduling problems we started to notice in mid-August and encountered last week that the master schedule that was built was faulty,” said Ron Lesko, district spokesman.

When individual student schedules were run off the master schedule, many of them were coming up with one or more errors or holes in the class schedules.

Rather than have 2,400 students without schedules, district officials chose to start on Monday, said Lesko.

Students can still report to the school from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today and Friday to obtain identification cards and if they have any questions, teachers and staff will be available, though no classes will be conducted.

The schedules may be available for students and parents to pick up on Saturday and Sunday.

No one person is being held accountable for the error, Lesko said.

Frustrated parents and students say all scheduling should have been finalized in July or August.

Typically, class schedules are completed and sent out in mid-August, but there were many factors this year involved with the schedule, including changes in school opening and closing times and numerous academic programs that helped create a “perfect storm,” said Lesko.

“We understand people’s frustrations. We are frustrated as well, “said Lesko.

“We understand it’s our responsibility to have a schedule and we apologize to all students and families. We understand it’s a failure on our part.”

Orientation was held on Wednesday for about 650 freshmen and when they arrived their schedules were not available.

The students were sent home with letters that said classes had to be canceled. District officials said the process of putting the schedule together for 2,400 students and many programs had a “high degree of complexity.”

They said that the school has many academic programs, including Abrookin Vocation-Technical Center, Advanced Placement, Career Explorations, and International Baccalaureate.

The two days that students will miss because of the error will have to be made up during the school year.

Parents may contact the school district at 454-3987.