ACADEMIC POLICIES

STUDENT RECORDS

The Family Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) permits parents/guardians to access their child’s school records. A copy of the procedures regarding student records are available upon request. Official student records may not be released to other persons or institutions without written permission of the parent/adult student, except as otherwise authorized by law.

TRANSFER CREDITS

When a student transfers into Paramus High School, any coursework taken at another high school is subject to review prior to acceptance. According to Paramus Board Policy 5111, pupils transferring into the district are expected to present copies of records from the previously attended school to aid in placement. Initial placement shall be made on the basis of the records received, but adjustments may be made at the discretion of administration when state-mandated assessments indicate that such adjustments would be beneficial to the child.

CREDIT RECOVERY

A student who earns a failing grade in a course is entitled to remediate the course through an approved summer school or online through the Educere program. A list of approved summer schools will be listed on the school’s website in June. Credit recovery must be paid for by the student. The failing grade and the credit recovery grade will appear on the transcript, but only the failing grade will be calculated into the grade point average. Students may register for a maximum of two (2)  remedial courses per year taken for credit recovery.

Eligibility Criteria for Summer School: Students in a year-long course who lose credit due to excessive absences must remain in the course through the end of the school year in order to be eligible to attend summer school.

*NEW* For chronological 12th graders, PHS will now be offering a school-day credit recovery program.  In the case of a 12th grade student needing to remediate a course during the school year due to loss of credit, we are happy to announce a new opportunity for them and their family that will allow them to enroll in a credit recovery course immediately, as opposed to waiting for the summer. Students who would like to participate in this program will need to complete the following:

•  Student Credit Recovery For Attendance Withdrawal Application & Contract 

• Download, sign, scan and submit a Parent Permission Contract to their counselor

• Be reviewed by building and central office administration for approval to participate

 Parents/Students/Guardians are responsible for covering the cost of any course enrolled in for this program.

Once the above listed items have been satisfied, the student will be withdrawn from the original course and a final grade of NC (No Credit) will be applied to the student's transcript.  The student will then be enrolled in a study program within our STAR Center, where the student has the ability to complete the credit recovery coursework during the school day. Upon completion of the credit recovery course, the student will be withdrawn from the study program in the STAR Center and will be enrolled in an official Study Hall for the remainder of the school year. The credit recovery course will be placed on the student's official transcript with a "CR" designation and will be graded on a Pass/Fail scale with a grade of P or F.  Students who pass the course with a grade of P will be granted full credit, however, the credit recovery course will not factor into the student's GPA calculation.

If a student violates the behavioral and/or attendance expectations listed in the contracts signed, the student will be removed from the credit recovery course, placed in a study hall, and will not be given credit for the course. 

The Educere course that the student enrolls in is dependent upon the marking period in  which they are withdrawn from the original course:

• If a student is withdrawn during MP1 or MP2, the student can register to take the “new work” course for full content.

• If a student is withdrawn during MP3 or MP4, the student can register to take the “remedial” course for credit recovery content (the same as they would take for Summer School).

STUDY HALL & YOUR SCHEDULE

Study hall is a designated time for students to complete homework, study, or work on academic tasks in a quiet and supervised environment. We are happy to offer this opportunity during the day to our students who have fulfilled graduation requirements but would like to take time in their day for structured focus on their overall studies.  These can be present in a student schedule for a full-year, semester, or even marking period-long sections and are able to be requested by students during the course request window for any further year's schedule.

As a practice, student requests to swap their study hall period with their PE class will not be honored. Each year the PHS building schedule is carefully structured to ensure that all classes have the necessary space, equipment, and staffing at specific times of the day relative to the number of students that need to be supervised.  Due to this, such a change becomes logistically difficult for the grand scheme of the building. For this reason, and to ensure equity of opportunity amongst our student body, we will not be able to process such requests.

COURSES TAKEN PRIOR TO MATRICULATION

High school-level courses taken prior to a student’s matriculation as a freshman will not appear on the high school transcript and will not receive high school credit. This includes high school-level math classes taken by eighth-grade students. The only exception would be a math course taken for new work in the summer prior to freshman year, after the student has completed the eighth grade, if approved by the curriculum supervisor.

GRADE ADJUSTMENTS FOR LEVEL CHANGES

If a student changes his/her course level during the school year, the grade-to-date in the original course will be adjusted by 15 percent, to account for the difference in rigor, and transferred to the new course.