Parental Override Policy | Westford Public Schools

Information Regarding Overrides

Sometimes parents/caregivers/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 the 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/caregivers 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:

1. A student is allowed to override no more than 2 courses.

2. A student cannot override if they are more than 5 points below the required prerequisite course grade.

3. The student’s parent/caregiver must agree to provide additional support to their child as needed in order to be successful in this course. (This may mean tutorial support beyond the classroom teacher.)

4. Override qualifications will be evaluated at the end of quarter 3/T2 for grade 8.

If students who have completed the process achieve the prerequisite grade by the end of Q3, Curriculum Coordinators will remove the override tag.
If students who have completed the process move into the override qualification range by the end of Q3, their override will be granted.
If students who have completed the process move out of the override qualification range, CCs will communicate to students, parents/caregivers and the counseling department that they are no longer eligible to override.