Manhattan High onsite and remote underclassmen are preparing for enrollment in the coming weeks. It is expected to be routine, unlike so much this year, with no major alterations due to COVID-19. 

“We’re planning, enrollment wise, for next year as we traditionally do,” junior counselor Erin Spreer said. “But I don’t know if we’ll be back to normal, what the schedule will be like and I also don’t know if we’ll have a separate remote schedule next year like we did this year. I don’t think any of that will probably be determined until summer.”

Enrollment for both remote and onsite students will assume they have all electives available to them. This is to ensure that the school can provide the best class options for students, as they can base the regular schedule and potentially remote schedule off of student requests. 

“We’re doing [remote student enrollment] traditionally because we don’t know what next year is going to be like, but when we get those classes and they get entered into the system, that’s how we determine how many sections we need what electives are offered,” Spreer said. “So it’s really important that students do enter in classes they want to take and alternate classes that they would be interested in just so we can plan appropriately.”

There aren’t many changes coming to the MHS course catalog next year. The Career and Technical Education department is adding Carpentry 1, a year-long free-tuition Manhattan Area Technical College class, to students’ options. They are also removing Cabinetry and Furniture Design 2. 

“Because we added the other course, we shifted some courses in that pathway and we really don’t have the room for a second [furniture] class,” CTE director Chris Holborn said. “If a student really wanted to do more cabinetry and furniture design, we would maybe try to figure out an option for them.”

The only other difference in the 2021-22 coursebook is name changes to accounting classes. Accounting 1 and 2 were changed to Business and Computerized Accounting 1 and 2 this year, and are being changed back to College Accounting 1 and 2 Business and Computerized due to low enrollment.

“We had low enrollment and we were wondering if the name played a part in that because it was confusing,” Holborn said. “Students didn’t know what … business computerized accounting [was] when it was really just Accounting 1 and 2 … We’re just trying to clarify that.”

MHS will hold a virtual elective fair on Feb. 10 and create a Canvas course containing information about classes to substitute for the regular in-person events.

“It’s a big change obviously but we hope the Canvas page we’re making will be beneficial in the future,” Holborn said. “Even for a student that moves in and they don’t know much about classes or school, or what we offer, that’d be something if they had access to.”