The option for arena scheduling will end for incoming sophomores entering the high school campus in 2025. Due to feedback from students and parents, only incoming juniors and seniors will be able to arena schedule.
“I thought students and families loved it,” lead counselor Carah Marquez said. “I thought they loved having that flexibility and that power to go in and make those periods how they like them, but they don’t. And again, that’s not everybody, but I was surprised by [how students said the process was] ‘super stressful’ [and] ‘I’d rather you do it for me, I don’t want to have to do it.’”
Incoming sophomores will still have the ability to choose their electives and the difficulty level of their courses. Their schedules will be determined by a “button push” through computer systems, and then reviewed again by the counselors.
“You’re not quite mature enough, as freshmen,” Marquez said. “It’s daunting enough to build a schedule and come to the big campus. It makes sense that [arena scheduling] will keep going forward for the kiddos that are already on our campus.”
Many families expressed their concerns about the stress of arena scheduling, from lack of internet access to choose courses fast enough to conflicting sports schedules that forced them to schedule later than the rest of the student body. Marquez said Allen is one of the very few districts in Texas to offer arena scheduling.
“With the STEAM and CTC campuses, [as well as] classes still at [the Lowery Freshman Center], you’re potentially dealing with four different campuses and their bell conflicts,” Marquez said. “It’s just an extra complication. If we were one campus, where we didn’t have to worry about those, it would make a little bit more sense.”
For sophomore Samaira Shrivastava, arena scheduling provided students like her with the opportunity to think about how well they can perform and how to best set themselves up for success.
“I didn’t get my ideal situation that I planned out, but I don’t blame the arena scheduling concept for that,” Shrivastava said. “That’s kind of more [because] of my own speed or everyone’s frantic-ness to get on [Skyward].”
The initial concept of arena scheduling was to provide students the opportunity to prepare for the college experience. Arena-scheduling students can look forward to attending classes at the times they choose, including their privilege period.
“I was looking forward to arena scheduling, because this year, I don’t have many classes with my friends,” freshman Writwick Bezboruah said. “I want to be able to schedule my classes with my friends for the future years.”
For more information on arena scheduling, visit allenisd.org.
