Parental Override Policy | Westford Public Schools

Parental 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 his/her 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 his or her 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 may formally request an override of the school’s recommendation or eligibility requirement for a course or courses. In those instances, the student is allowed to take the preferred course with the understanding that the student will remain in said course for the entire school year. Please note that when overriding a course:

Students are not allowed to override more than 2 courses.
Students cannot override if they are more than 5 points below the required prerequisite course grade.
Parents/guardians must agree to provide additional support to their children as needed in order to be successful in this course. (This means tutorial support beyond the classroom teacher.)

You must complete a separate form for each department course.