A countywide policy change this year has compelled the counseling department to switch to the online myMCPS scheduler for class sign-ups.

With the new system, students individually input their classes at home online rather than filling out a paper form for the counselors to manually input. They simply log on to the myMCPS scheduler website, input their ID and select which courses they want to take.

The online system should help maximize efficiency and save paper, counselor Kari Wislar said.

“I think on the front end it’s more work as we learn to navigate it,” she said. “But I think in the end it’s going to save more time.”

Using myMCPS saves work because counselors simply have to look over classes that students input, rather than typing in every class code by hand, which was a tedious and time-consuming process.

“If we missed a number by one digit, a student could end up in the wrong class,” Wislar said.

In order to inform students about the change, counselors went over how to sign up online and distributed a packet with instructions and screenshots of the website. Despite this, there have been a few problems with the system. For example, students have run into difficulties trying to input multiple classes in the same subject area.

“I don’t understand how it works,” junior Megan Gaines said. “I know they gave us a packet but it still seems complex.”

Wislar said that the counselors are learning along with students, but are happy with the system so far.

“We’re addressing the kinks as we find them,” she said.