Seniors who can meet ALL graduation requirements with a shortened schedule, and who have confirmation that personal transportation exists, may request Early Release/Late Arrival. Efforts will be made to schedule courses so that the requested Early Release/Late Arrival is facilitated; however, there is no guarantee that this will be possible. These options are noted on college transcripts. Seniors must take a minimum of four (4) courses.
• HAP (HELP AND ACCESS PERIOD)
HAP is required for all freshman and sophomore students unless an exception is approved by administration through a HAP waiver (see bottom section of this page). Juniors and seniors may elect HAP as one of their courses for either the year or a semester.
•HSPA PREPARATION
Students whose scores indicate risk of failure on the New Jersey High School Proficiency Tests will be scheduled for specific classes to improve their skills.
•PREREQUISITES
In order to sign up for a course that has a prerequisite, students MUST obtain any required signatures and meet ALL stated prerequisites at the time of course selection. Students who have not obtained the required signatures and who have not met the required prerequisites at the time selections sheets are submitted will not have these course requests added to their proposed schedules.
SUMMER COURSEWORK TOWARD PREREQUISITES
Students who plan to take summer course work to satisfy prerequisites should inform their counselors of this intention. However, their course selections will not reflect these plans, and there will be no guarantee that the desired course will be available at the end of the summer when the prerequisite is met. Please be aware of the following:
- Students will not receive Honors or A.P. weighting for classes taken outside of SBHS.
- When an advancing class (120 hrs.) is taken for credit, the grade and number of credits earned is listed on the transcript and included in the GPA.
- In order to use an advancing (120 hour) summer course as a prerequisite for a math course, students must comply with the specific department’s standards/procedures for use of summer school advancing coursework. Be sure you read the department section carefully
- A summer school review class (60 hrs.) can be used to make up for failure or to improve the previous grade. In either case the original course and grade remain on the transcript. In the case of make-up of failure, the course credit (if any) and grade from summer school are also listed on the transcript and included in the GPA. In the case of grade improvement, the second grade will appear on the transcript and be included on GPA but there are no credits assigned since the original course was passed and credits earned at that point.
- Enrichment classes (60-100 hrs.) must be pre-approved in order to satisfy a prerequisite. No credit is given to enrichment work. Course and grade are listed on the transcript but not included in the GPA.
HONORS / ADVANCED PLACEMENT / COLLEGE LEVEL COURSES
These courses are designed to be very challenging in the level of material and concepts presented, the pace of the course, and the amount of work required. Advanced Placement courses are providing college-level work so are our most rigorous courses.
In order to take these classes. students must fulfill ALL entry requirements and be fully committed to remaining in the course for the FULL school year. There is NO guarantee that students who wish to drop these courses at any point after course sign-up will be able to get into a suitable alternative. No student will be placed in an AP course after the end of the school year.
AP courses require an application and approval which is done during course selection.
For AP courses that require a summer assignment, it is the responsibility of the students who are approved and placed in the courses to get the assignments and materials from the appropriate teachers prior to the last week of school. Failure to submit the completed assignment by the due date will result in removal from the class
SCHEDULE CHANGES
You are urged to take your course selection process very seriously, getting maximum information for your decisions now since changing your selections after the fact will be very difficult, if at all possible. Before your selections are finalized, your counselor will review the choices, checking prerequisites and considering post-high school plans, but it is your responsibility to be familiar with your qualifications for the courses you wish to take and your status regarding graduation requirements and college entrance requirements.
You will receive confirmation of your choices after this review and the master schedule will then be constructed so that the maximum number of students’ requests can be met. There will be some opportunity in the summer for limited schedule changes; however, due to constraints of class size and complexity of the master schedule, it may not be possible to accommodate your requests for change. Therefore, we encourage you to make your BEST decisions NOW and make a serious commitment to the courses you originally select.
HAP WAIVER
To support overall student success in high school, it is our belief that students benefit from having an opportunity during their day to devote to completing assignments, accessing teachers for extra help, having common time with peers for group projects, being able to use the library resources, and gaining access to their counselors or case managers. In addition, we urge students to participate in after-school activities, making this built-in time even more critical. However, we recognize that there may be students for whom this program is not appropriate. Therefore, after the ninth grade when students have completed their transition to the high school, we will consider exceptions.
This option is available to only SOPHOMORES who have a consistent record of strong academic performance and a compelling rationale for needing to take a course in lieu of the required HAP. To be considered, you will need to get a HAP Waiver Form from your counselor, complete it in full and return it by the deadline on the application. Your request will be reviewed by the administration and a decision made based on your record and on availability of courses in the master schedule.