Scheduling Policies

Add/Drop

During the pre-registration process a great deal of time and effort is spent to provide the best possible circumstances with which to select courses. It is expected, therefore, that the pre-registered courses must be kept. If a student wants to change a course, this must be done prior to the beginning of each semester. After each semester begins, there is a three-day period during which students may add and drop classes with parent, teacher, and school counselor approval. At the start of the second semester, only half-year classes may be changed. After this add/drop period only teacher, parent or counselor-initiated changes will be considered. Each request will be thoroughly scrutinized by a counselor, teacher, and administration.

Course Withdrawal or Course Level Change Procedure for an MHS course: (including independent studies, AP 4 ME etc.)

Occasionally, students may need to withdraw from or change levels in a course after the 3 day add/drop period that occurs at the beginning of each semester. The following procedure must be followed in order for a student to change levels or withdraw from a course:

1. The student must initiate a conversation with the current teacher. The level change or withdrawal must be approved by the current teacher to begin the process.

2. The student must initiate a conversation with his/her parent or guardian who also must approve the level change or withdrawal for the process to continue.

3. The teacher must communicate to the school counselor that they approve of the level change or withdrawal.

4. The student will then receive an add/drop form from the school counselor. All required signatures including the parent and teacher(s) must be received and the form must be returned to the school counselor in order for the level change or withdrawal to be finalized.

5. In the case of a withdrawal, the student will be assigned to a quiet study hall for the remainder of the current semester.

 The following procedure is used to determine grades for these courses:

1. If a student withdraws from a course before October 1st for a year long or semester 1 course or before March 1st for a semester 2 course, the course will not be included on a student’s transcript and the grade will not be calculated in the student’s GPA. 

2. If a student changes levels of a course before October 1st for a year long or semester 1 course or before March 1st for a semester 2 course, the grade at the time of withdrawal will be transferred to the new course and included in the final average for the current quarter at a percentage determined by both teachers. Only the new course level for a year long class and final quarter 1 grade will be listed on the transcript and calculated into the student’s GPA.

3. If a student withdraws from a year long course or semester 1 course after October 1st, the student will receive a Withdraw (WD) for this course on the transcript for the quarter in which the withdrawal occurred. The grade at the time of withdrawal will be calculated into the student’s GPA factoring the attempted credit value and weight assigned to the course. For semester 2 courses, this same procedure will occur if a student withdraws after March 1st. 

4. If a student is changing course levels after the midpoint of any quarter, the grade at the time of withdrawal will be transferred to the new course (with any AP/honors weight included if applicable) and included in the final average for the current quarter at a percentage determined by both teachers. For the current quarter and beyond, the student will receive the credit value and weight assigned to the new course level. The student will receive a WD on the transcript for the original course for the quarter in which they withdrew and any previous quarter grades will remain on the transcript for that course. The student’s final average will be determined by the average of these previous quarter grades (with weight applied if applicable) and any remaining quarter grades at the weight assigned to the new course level.

Advanced Placement Courses

Marshwood High School offers Advanced Placement (AP) opportunities in all content areas. AP courses provide students with rigorous college level curricula. All students enrolled in an AP course at Marshwood High School must take the AP exam. The current fee to sit for each AP exam is $97, which each student is required to pay.  Financial assistance is available for students in need. Students that score well on an AP exam

may receive college credit from the college where they matriculate. Since colleges treat AP scores differently, students seeking to receive college credit are encouraged to research college AP policies thoroughly. The following AP courses are offered:  AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP US History, AP US Government & Politics, AP Art History, AP Calculus AB, AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics I and AP Studio 2-D/Drawing.

Early Graduation

This is an alternative chosen by very few students. Students interested in pursuing early graduation must meet with parents/guardian, administrator and school counselor to present a plan that shows how graduating early is in the student’s best interest.

External Credit Policy

A total of two external high school credits may be earned outside of Marshwood High School. These courses must be pre-approved by the school counselor, administration, department head, and parent/guardian. Courses may be earned from accredited correspondence schools, independent study courses, other accredited high schools’ summer programs and other approved training institutions. For seniors, external courses must be completed by May 1st.

Students may also enroll in external courses at Marshwood Adult Education with prior approval of the Adult Education director, department team leader, administration and school counselor. Students must follow the Marshwood Adult Education rules for eligibility, attendance and credit earned. Semester-long Marshwood Adult Education courses are the equivalent of a ½ credit at Marshwood High School.

External high school credits may not be used to meet core graduation requirements and will be included on the transcript as Pass/Fail.

Early College Programs

Required and/or elective courses may be taken through early college programs with approval from administration, school counselor, department team leader and parents. These programs provide an opportunity for Maine high school students to enroll in courses on campus or online at Maine’s public universities and community colleges tuition-free for up to 12 tuition free credit hours per year. Courses can count for both high school and college credit. These courses will be added to students’ MHS transcripts, will receive the weight of an AP level course in the GPA and letter grades will be converted to numeric grades as follows: A = 98, A- = 93, B+ = 90, B= 87, B- =84, C+ = 81, C= 78, C- =75, D+ = 72, D= 69, D- = 66, F= 64, AF = 64, W= WD.

For more information please visit our Additional Learning Opportunities page: Additional Learning Opportunities

Course Withdrawal or Course Level Change Procedure for an Early College Course: (YCCC/UMaine etc.)

1. If a student withdraws from an early college course prior to the add/drop date set forth by the institution, the course will not be included on a student’s transcript and the grade will not be calculated in the student’s GPA.

2. If a student withdraws from an early college course after the date set forth by the institution, the student will receive a (WD) for this course on their MHS transcript and on the transcript from the college institution.

Community Service

• Fifty (50) hours of community service is a graduation requirement for all students. Students are encouraged to perform and document more than 50 hours to be considered for serviced based scholarships.

• Seniors must complete their community service by May 1st of their senior year to graduate.

• Some examples are:

Tutoring (high school, junior high, elementary)

Mentoring (high school, junior high, elementary)

Junior firefighters

Helping the elderly, shoveling, raking, piling wood, visiting nursing homes

Cleaning rivers, parks, beaches, athletic fields, school grounds

Helping with church suppers and hospital programs

• Community Service cannot be:

Court ordered community service

Work for which you are paid

Community service for relatives

Special Education

The purpose of the special education services is to meet the goals and objectives, if required, of the individual education plan (IEP) established through the Individualized Education Plan Team process.

Special education offers referral, evaluation, and educational opportunities designed to meet the unique needs of those students who have an identified special services need.  These special needs include one or more of the following:

Autism

Deaf-Blindness

Deafness

Hearing Impairment

Intellectual Disability

Emotional Disturbance

Other Health Impairment

Orthopedic Impairment

Multiple Disabilities

Specific Learning Disability

Traumatic Brain Injury

Speech or Language Impairment

Visual Impairment (including Blindness)

Services such as testing and evaluation, specially designed instruction in the special education setting, consultation, speech and language, physical therapy, occupational therapy and social work are available and may be part of a student’s IEP if determined to be necessary by the IEP team to support students with academic and/or functional needs.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION NOTICE

The Board of Directors of School Administrative District #35 does hereby reaffirm its commitment to equal employment opportunity and to an atmosphere for students and employees which is free of intimidation, ridicule, hostility, and offensiveness.

The Board of Directors of M.S.A.D. #35 recognizes its responsibility to comply with the provisions of the Maine Human Rights Act and those federal statutes with similar provisions that apply.

In recognition of this responsibility the Board of Directors is committed to pursuing a policy of nondiscrimination in the personnel policies of School Administrative District #35. These practices include but are not limited to, recruitment, hiring, opportunities for promotion or transfer, compensation, and other terms, conditions or privileges of employment.  The policies implementing these policies shall not favor or penalize any person because of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, age or disability where these are not found to be bona fide occupational qualifications.  Therefore, the Board of Directors of M.S.A.D. #35 does thereby direct that this policy of equal employment opportunity shall be promoted and enforced through an Affirmative Action Plan. Copies of the Affirmative Action Plan are available in each school office.

The Superintendent of Schools is School Administrative District #35’s Affirmative Action Officer.  Questions regarding affirmative action should be directed to her at 180 Depot Road, Eliot, ME 03903 or 207-439-2438.