Policies & Procedures COURSE SELECTION Student schedules are designed from student-generated course requests. Course selection is done through online course registration in Family Connection. Advisor Conferences will be held on Feburary 1st and online course registration is due on Feburary 8th by 4pm. Course requests turned in after 4pm will be given lower priority when scheduling. Each student must enroll in a minimum of four academic solids plus Physical Education/Health. An academic solid is defined to be one of the following: 1) a course in the Hockaday English, Math, Language, Science, or History departments; 2) AP Studio Art; 3) History of Art and Music; or 4) AP Computer Science at Hockaday. Independent study and One Schoolhouse courses do not count as an academic solid. Students may take no more than five academic solids in any semester. Accelerated work, a double load within one department, or summer work may hasten the completion of required courses, but such work does not remove the stated minimum course load to be taken during each semester. All courses offered in the course catalogue are dependent upon sufficient enrollment and faculty availability. P.E. Health class selections are requested during course registration. Health classes must be taken in the year in which they are assigned and may not be deffered to subsequent years. Effective for the class of 2020, History of Art & Music and United States Government must be completed before the beginning of Form III. If offered, students may take HAM and US Gov’t the summer before or after Form II. Otherwise, students must take them during the assigned Form II year. CHANGES The Registrar will build the students’ schedules based on their requests and is available until the end of the school year for questions and/or change requests. The earlier the change is requested, the more easily it may be accomplished. Questions and requested changes should be directed to the Registrar, Lyse Herrera, 214-360-6354 or lherrera@hockaday.org. All students will be notified when their schedule is complete and available on My BackPack. Change requests may continue through the first six (6) days of school (one rotation). ADDING a class – Schedule changes are permitted during the first six (6) days of each semester. During this period, the Registrar and the Head of Upper School will be available to discuss and approve class changes. No new classes may be added after this period. Changes requested for reason of teacher preference are not entertained. DROPPING a class – A student has until one week after Interim Comments are published (usually mid October) to drop a full-year or a fall semester course without notation on the transcript. Any course dropped after this time (done only in extraordinary circumstances) will be noted on the transcript and a grade at the time of withdrawal entered. The same rule applies to a semester course dropped in the spring (usually the end of February). The advisor is to act as the student’s advocate in securing these approvals. LEVEL CHANGES – (For example: switching from AP U.S. History to U.S. History) With the permission of the Head of the Upper School and the respective Department Chair, a student enrolled in an Advanced Placement level course may change into a regular section of that course at any time. A student may also change into another level of foreign language or math with the permission of the Department Chair. The grade earned in the former class will be transferred to the new one in both instances. EXCEPTIONS • Exceptions to a particular department’s requirements may be made by the respective Department Chair. • Exceptions to the stated course load may be made by the Head of Upper School. • The Registrar, in consultation with Department Chairs, will make decisions regarding credits by transfer. • Scheduling conflicts will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
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