Some people were surprised at the confusion, many were not. More than 100 students clamoured in front of the student services centre waiting for more than an hour to either be registered for classes or to receive their re-classification letters, which had been delayed by the BGCSE results.
COB President Janyne Hodder explained that the slow process stemmed from a new procedure, which depended on the exam results. “[The new students] received pre-acceptance letters earlier on in the year. After they get their BGCSE results, based on [the results] they go straight into their major or get placed into College Prep,” said Ms Hodder. She stuck strong to the dictum she is known by, “hard on issues, gentle on people,” as she momentarily placed blame to the side and personally helped the students and parents in need.
Yet, the president did promise that a briefing would take place to identify all factors contributing to the disorder and how it could be prevented in the future.
As a result of the problems, many students waited on long lines to hear their fates, while others just wanted to be registered.
Freshman Plakaris, who wanted to be identified only by her last name, revealed that the process was going smoothly until the soon-to-be college students were asked to go to their specific schools for the advising section.
She said that she and four other freshmen were discouraged by the long wait, even thought they had the re-classification letters in-hand.
“I just spent over two hours waiting to be advised and I haven’t spoken to anyone yet,” said Plakaris.
The situation eventually got so bad for the freshman that she and the others who were waiting on the advisor, picked out their classes themselves and went to the Communications Department to register.
Plakaris said they encountered more hurdles there as well, when their names could not be found in the system.
COB sophomore, Riel Hastie, said he was not surprised by the lines and waiting, as he had a similar experience when he tried to register last year.
“It took me around six hours to register last year. About two-and-a- half hours standing on line to see the advisor and another two-and-a- half hours to drop my registration off at the records office.”
However, the Director of Public Relations at COB, Lia Head, said that only about 100 of the 1,500 students experienced difficulties registering this year, and that was an improvement. “Things have definitely changed for the better this year.”
By: INDERIA SAUNDERS, The Nassau Guardian
