Every school has a moment – usually sometime between mid-July and the week before school starts – when the plan no longer fits reality. A new teacher backs out. Enrollment shifts. A program expands or gets cut. Suddenly, what looked fine on paper becomes a logistical scramble in real time.
Welcome to scramble season – the final stretch when your student information system either holds it all together or makes things worse.
A modern SIS should adapt without stress
Scramble season is about reacting quickly – without unraveling everything else. Your SIS shouldn’t just hold data. It should help your team manage change smoothly and keep everything (and everyone) aligned.
✅ Flexible scheduling without ripple effects
You shouldn’t need to start over just to make a mid-August adjustment. Built-in configuration tools (like Alma’s) allow for modifying bell schedules, course structures, or teaching assignments without triggering downstream chaos. You should be able to run different schedule types across buildings or programs – all without custom code or a support ticket.
✅ Curriculum and assignments that move with you
When new class sections are added or staffing shifts at the last minute, your SIS should make it easy to get teachers up and running fast. That includes copying assignments and curriculum between sections – even pulling from archived school years – so nothing has to be built from scratch under pressure.
✅ Roster and role changes without lost data
When teachers change assignments or leave mid-year, the last thing you need is to lose grading history or scramble to reauthorize access. A solid SIS (like Alma) should let you make those adjustments while preserving gradebooks, class rosters, and historical records. Some systems, like Alma, are designed specifically to handle these transitions without manual workarounds.
✅ Communication that’s built in – and always current
From group announcements to one-on-one messages, your SIS should make it easy to get the right info to the right people without switching platforms. Need to notify only 9th grade families about a counselor change? Done. Need to text a specific homeroom teacher and their students? Easy.
And these lists shouldn’t need handholding. They should be dynamic – meaning when a student enrolls, they’re automatically added to the correct group. If they unenroll, they’re automatically removed. Systems like Alma handle this automatically, so you’re not rebuilding email lists every time the roster changes.
A good SIS reduces friction. A great one adds calm.
Scramble season doesn’t care how well things were going last spring. It’s messy. It’s unpredictable. But the right system can take pressure off your team instead of adding to it.
Ask yourself:
- #1 – Can we adjust schedules or roles without breaking other workflows?
- #2 – Can our staff reuse what they’ve already built?
- #3 – Are our communication tools connected to live, real-time student data?
- #4 – Does our SIS respond to change – or resist it?
If you’ve ever thought, “We just try not to touch the system once August hits,” that’s a sign it’s not doing its job.
Scramble season may be unavoidable – but burnout isn’t
You can’t prevent every staffing surprise or enrollment shift. But you can control whether your SIS is helping you respond with clarity … or making you work harder when time is already tight.
The systems schools rely on should meet these moments with flexibility, calm, and smart design. That’s the baseline. And if your SIS isn’t there yet, it might be time to ask: why not?
