School committee adopts rewritten high school handbook, including attendance, AP and exam rules

The North Reading School Committee unanimously approved major updates to the North Reading High School student handbook on July 20, including clarified attendance rules, credit-recovery standards and exam scheduling.

Dr. Meyer, who presented the changes, said the handbook replaces an old 90-minute delay schedule with a two-hour delay and formalizes an online pass system. She told the committee the AP policy will now award honors credit rather than AP credit to students who sign up for an AP course but do not sit for the AP exam: "If you don't take the AP exam, regardless of what the reason is, you will not receive AP credit for the course. You'll receive honors credit," Dr. Meyer said. The committee also adopted a rule that exams should be taken during the regularly scheduled periods except in extenuating circumstances reviewed by an attendance panel.

Attendance changes set clear intervention thresholds. The committee adopted a letter-notification system and a panel review process: for full-year courses families will receive warning letters at 6, 10 and 15 absences and a final-warning letter at 18 absences, with possible loss of credit above 18; for semester courses the thresholds are 3, 6 and 9 absences. Dr. Meyer explained the district will create an attendance panel to review documentation and extenuating circumstances. "For full year courses, DESE says 18 or more classes because it's 10% of the school year," she said.

The committee's vote followed questions about practical implementation and exceptions. Chair Jeff Freeman called for a roll-call vote after a motion to approve the changes and the handbook revisions passed 5–0. The approved packet of edits will be communicated to families ahead of the new school year.