Parental Override Policy
Information Regarding Overrides
Sometimes parents/guardians/students choose to reject department recommendations for placement and request enrollment in a more demanding course for which they are not academically eligible. There are risks in doing so. Specifically:
A student who does poorly in a more advanced class may weaken student’s overall academic record.
Sometimes, the additional effort required for success in a course for which a student is not well prepared takes away from the time and energy a student has available to devote to other coursework leading to an overall decline in performance.
To keep up with the class, the student may require more individual help than the teacher can reasonably be expected to provide. The demands of an advanced curriculum do not allow teachers to accommodate for the pace of a student who is misplaced. The teacher cannot provide individual tutoring.
We do want students to challenge themselves but sometimes those challenges may yield grades (such as a C or lower) that are not acceptable to the student and/or parent.
Parental Override Policy
In some extenuating circumstances, parents/guardians may formally request an override of the school’s recommendation or eligibility requirements for a course or courses. In those instances, the student may enroll in the desired course with the understanding that the student will remain in said course for the entire school year.
In a continuing effort to support student success and well being and based on review of data, the following limitations are in place for overrides:
- A student is allowed to override no more than 2 courses.
- A student cannot override if they are more than 5 points below the required prerequisite course grade.
- The student’s parent/guardian must agree to provide additional support to their child as needed in order to be successful in this course. (This means tutorial support beyond the classroom teacher.)
Override Process
If you wish to override the recommendation of your student’s teacher in selecting a course for next year, the following process must be followed:
- If you have not been through the override process before and would like to have a meeting with the curriculum coordinator to discuss implications of an override or have questions about the courses, please contact the department coordinator for that subject directly to set up a meeting. This meeting must be requested prior to March 26, 2021.
- If you have been through this process before and feel that you have a full understanding of the override process:
- Click on the link below for the specific department. You must complete a separate form for each department course.
- Complete the override form (available beginning March 23, 2021 at 2:10 pm) agreeing to the conditions stated in the policy above. Once you complete, sign and submit this form, you will receive a confirmation email.
- You must submit the Google Form by April 2, 2021 at 2 pm. There are NO EXCEPTIONS to this deadline.