Graduation Requirements

Successful completion of 42 semester courses, to include:

ENGLISH:  one for each semester enrolled (through Level IV).

MATHEMATICS:  6 semesters.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES:  6 semesters.

HISTORY:  6 semesters, to include Themes and Issues in World History, Modern European History, US History.

SCIENCE:  6 semesters, to include Biology.

CREATIVE ARTS:  2 semesters or approved equivalent.

COMMUNITY SERVICE:  50 hours minimum, 30 hours for transferring juniors, 20 hours for transferring seniors.

Students must take a minimum of 5½ credits each semester for 11 credits each year.  Students may not take more than 6½ credits in a semester without special permission from the Curriculum Committee.  Students wishing to take 7 semester credits must submit a petition with their course sign-up request.  No student may take more than 7 credits in a semester.

Twelfth graders, in order to receive their diplomas/certificates, must pass all year-long courses  and pass all courses during the second semester.

A student cannot be promoted with more than one failure in a course on his/her record.

Students taking AP and some honors courses are advised to pay close attention to course descriptions as extra class meetings may be required for AP and honors courses.  The frequency of these extra classes will be decided by the particular department and may be added to in the case of excessive cancellations due to inclement weather.

All courses are year-long unless otherwise indicated.  The school reserves the right to cancel a class for which there is insufficient enrollment.

No student may enroll in more than 3 AP courses or 4 Honors and AP courses combined.

Drop/Add/Withdraw Policy

Drop/Add:  Student will have two week drop/add period during which any courses may be dropped our added – based on space and ensuring that student is carrying minimum number of courses. For 2010-2011 the drop/add period ends Friday, September 24.

Withdrawal from Courses

All students must take a minimum of five and half credits each semester although they may challenge themselves further by enrolling in courses beyond this minimum requirement.  However, when the challenge becomes an obstacle to success in other courses, after consulting with his/her teacher, advisor, college counselor (for seniors), and parents, a student may withdraw from an extra non-required course without penalty according to the following policy and deadlines below.  Seniors should consult with the college office before such withdrawals and understand that the school must notify any colleges to which transcripts have been sent of any changes in the status of the course load they are taking.

A student may not withdraw from any course that would bring his/her total load to below 5 ½ credits. Students may not withdraw from any ½ credit course (after the drop/add period). Students may withdraw from any course with no penalty (nothing showing on the transcript) by the Wednesday before Thanksgiving break. After this date, a student may not withdraw from an Honors or AP course.  If a student withdraws from any other course after this date, it will appear on transcript as a withdraw- pass (WP) or a withdraw – fail (WF). A student may not add a course after the drop/add period (to replace a dropped course) unless they are moving down a level – if it fits with the schedule. (Note: there are no guarantees that a lower level course will be available to a student who withdraws from a course.) When a student does withdraw from an Honors or AP course and drops down a level, the student’s grade will travel with him/her to the new course and the student will get 5 points added to their average (what they lose in the weighting for Honors/AP courses).