In order to accommodate for the COVID-19 crisis, Katy ISD decided to make course selection available through the Home Access Center this year. Two videos were shown during period 2.5, explaining how to go to the website and put in the courses students want to take for the next school year.

“It was actually pretty efficient,” sophomore Charlie Brown said. ”You didn’t have to try and turn in a piece of paper to school or who to turn it into. You just got to do it by yourself.”

Brown had some complaints about the new system, but liked it overall nonetheless.

“The only thing that I didn’t like is the feature where the counselor could lock some of your courses,” Brown said. ““I would keep it this way. I think it’s a lot easier and more beneficial timewise, for everyone.”

While some students  thought the selection process was easier since you didn’t have to turn in forms to a teacher, others thought some of the instructions were unclear. 

“For me, I’m taking health and study hall, which is hard to put,” sophomore Alier Acevedo said. “So I’m confused if I’m going to put health by itself, then put study hall as a different course.”

Acevedo takes school in Katy Virtual Academy, so he is not able to meet with his counselor in-person. For him, this was one of the major disadvantages of the new system.

“Asking questions takes time as well,” Acevedo said. “It’s really hard to explain those questions in text if you’re going to email a teacher, but that’s more for KVA kids than for [face to face students]. Some things are easier said in person than in text.”

Acevedo proposed a different way for course selection to work.

“When I did it, I thought it would be simple like before, but it wasn’t,” Acevedo said. “I would rather have it where you take a picture or have [the course selection] in a google form.”

Another problem students had with the new course selection was the alternate courses. Again, students thought the counselors weren’t very clear on what to do for specific situations.

“It was sort of clear,” sophomore Kartik Rai said. “But for the alternate selections, if you’re going to take a summer course, it wasn’t that clear, [with] how we replace it after we take it.”

However, Rai isn’t completely against the new system. For him, it has some new benefits.

“It’s easier because you could change [your courses] without having to erase,” Rai said. 

“[and] you don’t have to turn it in and it’s all online”

As for the future off this system, Rai is optimistic of what it can be.

“They should be fine with keeping it online if they explain it better [when it comes to] alternate selections and the courses,” Rai said. “Other than that, it seems fine to me.”