Panther Nation Newsletter
May 6, 2022
A Letter from Our Principal
Panthers:
As we start to bring the ‘21-’22 school year to a close, it’s also time to begin looking ahead to next year. Our goal each year is to have students’ registration and schedules completed for next fall - before they leave this school year. We are on track to do just that and should have those schedules ready to release before Memorial Day weekend.
It’s also important that we manage expectations and communicate clearly with our students and their families regarding this process. So, in that effort, please pay close attention to the information herein.
We carefully put together the course curriculum guide each year and ensure that the courses we offer can be fully staffed the following year. This effort sometimes takes us right up to the beginning of the school year to accommodate. We offer 425 different courses at WPHS. 140 of those courses are online.
In the ‘22-’23 registration cycle (next school year preparation), we managed 4,400 individual course requests from our 550 students. We were able to immediately accommodate 94% of those requests. Unfortunately, that still leaves between 250-300 decisions to be made for students to request new courses in order to fill the holes in their schedules.
As our collective staffing allows for approximately 40 certified teachers - and as we have a broad curriculum that attempts to accommodate a variety of student interests - we are left with a significant number (45) of SINGLETON classes. These are classes that are only offered ONCE. Many singletons conflict with other singletons. It is impossible for this not to occur. In an 8 period schedule…there are a minimum of five conflicts every period. When such conflicts occur, students must decide which course takes priority. It’s a difficult decision and one that many times leads to frustration because “we want to take the classes we want.” Believe me. We know better than anyone just how difficult these decisions are. We do everything possible to minimize the course conflicts. It’s easy to ask us to “move a class so that my son/daughter can take both (and not have to decide).” But, keep in mind that moving one class for one student’s conflict - will lead to creation of a new conflict for another student or set of students.
We built this massive schedule to accommodate as many students’ choices as possible. Our course sections - once established - are set and will not be moved. Many course sections are completely full. As well, we have new students arriving every day throughout the summer and we will be building schedules for those students based on where space allows (as well as their interests).
Changing schedules is not something that we do on a regular basis. We ask students to make intentional decisions as they request courses. Changing schedules is likely not possible…nor is it effective in keeping all students’ experiences viable. We will discourage schedule changes as we begin next year - and we will remind students of the choices they made in the spring. Those choices were the data by which we built the entire master schedule. We will hold students accountable to those decisions.
It’s important to have a great relationship with your guidance counselor to work thoughtfully through your course requests each year. Please contact them with any questions. Thanks for your understanding and help in making the WPHS schedule work as well as it can for everyone.
Until next time.
WPHS Athletic Contests May 6 - May 12
- Track and Field vs Canon City @ Canon City 9:00 am
Saturday, May 7
- Varsity Baseball vs Colorado Springs Christian School @ Meadowood in WP 10:00 am
- JV Baseball vs Colorado Springs Christian School @ Meadowood in WP 12:00 pm
Tuesday, May 10
- Varsity Baseball vs Palmer @ Spurgeon Field in Memorial Park 4:00 pm
- JV Baseball vs Palmer @ Palmer HS 4:00 pm
Wednesday, May 11
- Track and Field LEAGUE meet @ WPHS
Thursday, May 12
- Track and Field League Meet
- Varsity Baseball vs Palmer @ Meadowood in WP 3:30 pm SENIOR NIGHT
- JV Baseball vs Palmer @ Meadowood in WP 5:00 pm
THIS WEEKEND ONLY!!
Student Art Show -
Organizations at WPHS support ALL students by Lily Johnson
In high school, there are many different clubs that students can participate in. Clubs can be a place for students to get together, make new friendships, discover new things, and do things they enjoy.
There is a club called Sources of Strength. It is a national suicide prevention program that has been through many different schools and has helped multiple students. This program gives students the opportunity to become leaders and help those around them while making connections and bonding with their peers. Ms. Lee is an adult advisor for Sources of Strength. She knows that it is easy to focus on the negatives, rather than the positives. She wants SOS to bring hope, help, and strength to any kids it reaches. Mr. Graf is also an adult advisor for SOS. He believes that this program is very important because it helps kids that don’t have the support they need. He says this program is the next step that the school needs to help students. SOS is a big gap filler for students and has been very successful.
Ms. Ferguson sponsors many different clubs at the Woodland Park High School, such as Dungeons and Dragons, E-Sports, and the Gay-Straight Alliance. She sponsors these clubs because she wants students to have a safe place and she wants people to know that being different is okay and there’s nothing wrong with it. This is super important to her because everyone needs a safe place. She sponsors the GSA because she believes that love is love, and she wants students to not feel alone and lost. She is also a coach-like figure for the E-Sports club. She makes sure that every student gets practice and is prepared for their games that they play. Ms. Ferguson cares about the clubs she sponsors and the students she is there for.
High school clubs are something that every student can enjoy and they can be very helpful. They can create safe places and help form new friendships between students.
WPHS - a safe place to be who you are!
Gay Straight Alliance
Sources of Strength
Woodland Park High School
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Email: slee@wpsdk12.org
Website: https://wpsdk12.org/
Location: 151 Panther Way, Woodland Park, CO, USA
Phone: 719-686-2076