Once schedules are released, there is a set time window for students to make a very specific set of permitted schedule changes: 

There will be no other schedule changes permitted once the school year starts, including changes to electives and changes for second semester. Staples, Coleytown, and Bedford counselors meet individually with every student and often have follow-up conversations with students and parents/guardians. Teachers spend considerable time making thoughtful, individualized recommendations for each student in their classes. Budget and staffing levels are determined in the spring for the following school year based on student course selections. In return for the time and effort devoted to developing individual programs for each student and constructing and funding a master schedule based on student requests, students and families are trusted to put significant thought into the decisions that are made during the allotted course selection period and make a commitment to following through on these requests. 

Students are urged to make thoughtful decisions when selecting their courses, challenge themselves appropriately, balance out-of-school commitments responsibly, persist in the face of challenges, and take advantage of available school resources. Staples school counselors, administrators, and faculty are committed to assisting students with developing the skills and strategies necessary to be successful as well as the resilience to handle academic difficulties that arise. 

Dropping or changing levels in a course should therefore be viewed as a last resort. Nevertheless, there may be times when, despite a full effort from the student, a particular course placement proves to be beyond their abilities or they may feel overwhelmed by their overall course load. 

Many AP courses do not allow for level changes, as there’s no similar course offered at the Honors or A level (e.g., AP English Language and Composition, AP European History, AP Environmental Science). Should a student in an AP course without a similar course offered at the Honors or A level find the course to be too difficult once the deadline to add a new course has passed, they would need to drop the AP course altogether without credit and add a replacement course for a future term (see course withdrawal policy below). 

To facilitate a level change in a course, the student should consult with their teacher, school counselor, and parent/guardian. After demonstrating that all other options have been exhausted, if the student still wishes to make the level change, written permission from the parent/guardian to the school counselor is required, along with a recommendation from the teacher to make the change. The school counselor will then attempt to make the schedule change with the least amount of disruption to the student’s schedule while keeping class sizes balanced. 

There is no deadline to make a level change in the same course (i.e., from AP to Honors, Honors to A, A to B, or B to C of the same course). However, level changes cannot be made within the last ten school days within each term. 

Students and parents/guardians should be aware that level changes are subject to space availability, as the needs of the individual student have to be balanced with the needs of all students who could be impacted if a change were made. In some cases, it is impossible to change levels due to schedule or space limitations so that the student may have to cope with an inappropriate placement for the duration of the course, or a change can be made that necessitates changes to other courses in the student’s schedule. 

When a level change is made, all grades earned from the previous level class will be carried over and combined with grades earned in the new class to arrive at the final grade (grades from the previous level class are not adjusted for level). The final level appearing on the transcript, as well as credit earned, will reflect the course in which the student is enrolled after the level change. 

The deadline to drop a course altogether without record and have the course removed from the transcript is the end of the 30th school day of the term for full-year courses, first-semester courses, and second semester courses and 15th school day of the term for quarter courses. Students dropping a course after the drop deadline will adhere to the following policy: