Student Handbook - Student Services
The WPS are committed to supporting a whole child approach to teaching and learning, whereby all students experience academic and social emotional success. Our schools collaborate with students, families, parents, staff and community resources to provide support to increase student access to instruction and reduce barriers which prevent students from experiencing success in school.
A comprehensive list of student supports, including in the areas of attendance, behavior, physical health, mental health, guidance, psychology, restorative practices, social work, special education and section 504s, can be found on the Worcester Public Schools website.
Section 504 - Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act
It is the policy of the Worcester Public Schools to comply with Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAA, 2008) in all aspects of its programming, including both academic and extracurricular activities and programs.
The Rehabilitation Acts of 1973, also known as “Section 504,” is a nondiscrimination statute enacted by the United States Congress. The purpose of the Act is to prohibit discrimination by institutions that receive federal funding and to assure that qualified disabled students have educational opportunities and benefits equal to those provided to non-disabled students. Section 504 requires that school districts provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to qualified students in their jurisdictions who have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.
An eligible student under Section 504 is a student who:
has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of such a person's major life activities
has a record of such an impairment
is regarded as having such an impairment
Major life activities include but are not limited to caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating and working.
Under the ADA Amendments Act, whether an impairment substantially limits a major life activity is to be determined without reference to the ameliorative effects of mitigating measures. This means that the school cannot consider the ameliorative effect of mitigating measures — with the exception of eyeglasses and contact lenses — in determining whether someone has a qualifying disability.
Special Education
The mission of the Worcester Public Schools (WPS) Special Education Department is to empower the WPS staff to support and educate our scholars within the least restrictive environment. We are dedicated to proactively fostering partnerships with families and other stakeholders, recognizing their valuable role in our scholars’ success. Our commitment is to promote inclusivity, equity, and collaboration among students, educators, families, and the wider community. We strive to create and use consistent, data-driven practices and processes to optimize each scholar’s learning journey.
Employment Information and Procedures
Employment Permits (14-18 years of age) are issued in the nine (9) secondary schools for students enrolled in those schools.
Students who do not attend public schools must present proof of date of birth when applying for the certificate or permit during the school year from their home school.
Anyone under 18 years of age must obtain a work permit before starting a new job (M.G.L. c. 149 §86-89). Applications for work permits and complete information on legal limits of work hours and conditions of employment are available on the Massachusetts Department of Labor’s Division of Occupational Safety website.
Home Hospital Education Services 603 (CMR 28.03(3)(c)
State regulations provide educational services to a student who is confined to the home or hospital for medical reasons for a period of not less than fourteen school days in a school year. The intent of the regulation is to provide students receiving a publicly-funded education with the opportunity to make educational progress even when a physician determines that the student is physically unable to attend school. Home/hospital educational services are not intended to replicate the total school experience. The number of tutoring hours provided to the student will be based upon Worcester’s recommendations of what is required to minimize educational loss and taking into account the medical needs of the student. The Principal and/or their designee determines the credits which will be awarded for work completed during tutoring.
Any student who will be confined to a hospital or a home by an attending physician for fourteen (14) school days or longer due to a medical condition is eligible for this service. Note that for chronically ill students, the fourteen days need not be concurrent, but must result from the stated diagnosis.
If a chronic or acute medical condition that is not temporary in nature appears likely to adversely impact a student’s educational progress, the Principal and/or their designee will initiate a referral to determine eligibility for special education or 504 services.
Worcester requires students who seek home/hospital instruction to provide the Principal with a completed Physician's Affirmation of Need for Temporary Home or Hospital Education for Medically Necessary Reasons. The Principal and/or their designee may seek the caregiver's permission to speak with the physician in order to clarify the student’s medical availability to receive educational services, to gather additional information and to develop a transition plan to return the student to a school setting. Students who do not provide a fully-completed and signed form will not be provided with tutoring.
The Home Hospital Department will review and approve requests once the Referral Form for Home and Hospital Services is submitted by principal or their designee.
The program begins as soon as the physician requests Home and Hospital Instruction on the Physician’s Statement form and the district approves the services. Once the Home and Hospital Department receives the completed Physician’s Statement, the caregiver will be contacted to coordinate the services and an instructor will be assigned to provide educational services.
Occupation Restrictions
In Massachusetts, minors under the age of 14 are generally prohibited from employment. However, there are specific exceptions where they may legally work, including employment as news carriers, work on farms, or in a family business. These exceptions may be subject to specific regulations and often require permits.
Homeschooling
Caregivers who choose to educate their children at home, as allowed under Massachusetts law, can fulfill the requirements of the compulsory attendance statute by having their educational programs reviewed and accepted in advance by the Worcester Public Schools. Students enrolling in homeschool for the initial year must attend their assigned school until approval has been received.
Homeschool Plan Forms should be submitted online and are available as a PDF in other languages by sending a request via email.
Caregivers are expected to provide evidence of their child’s homeschooling program once a year. Students completing high school through homeschooling programs are not eligible for a Worcester Public Schools' Diploma.
A student being educated through Homeschooling may have access to public school activities of an extracurricular nature (e.g. sports, clubs) with the approval of the Superintendent or designee.
The district reserves the right to allow enrolled students to have precedence or priority over the homeschooled student with regard to placement on sports teams and activities that have limited enrollment. With approval of the Superintendent or designee, and in consultation with the principal, a homeschooled student may participate in sports teams and activities that have limited enrollment provided that they do not displace an enrolled student. Homeschooled students applying to participate in district-sponsored sports must follow the athletic eligibility guidelines listed in this handbook.
Homework Policy
The Worcester Public Schools believes that students' development is not only academic but also social and emotional, and that time dedicated to wellness and balance are as crucial as homework time.
What is Homework?
Homework can be a valuable tool to accelerate academic growth, enrich the school experience, and promote a positive interest in learning, but only when teachers assign purposeful, manageable, and developmentally appropriate tasks. Individual students may respond differently to homework, which means teachers need to differentiate homework appropriately and use formative, growth-oriented assessments.
Purposes of Homework
Effective homework is directly connected to classroom lessons and has a clear educational purpose. It can be categorized in many ways:
Practice: Strengthens skills and concepts taught in class. It also helps students integrate newly acquired skills with prior knowledge.
Preparation: Allows students to prepare for classroom instruction, preview content, and confidently participate in future lessons.
Checking for Understanding: Provides teachers with information about each student's knowledge to plan for reteaching and further learning.
Study Skills: Fosters valuable traits like responsibility, perseverance, self-discipline, and time management.
Extension and Enrichment: Provides opportunities for students to apply skills and concepts to new situations, including real-world problems.
Independence: Encourages self-direction, time management, personal responsibility, confidence, ownership, and resilience.
Authenticity: Values creative, authentic, and student-led homework, prioritizing quality over quantity.
Accounts for Different Learning Styles and Needs: Provides multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning through the provision of accommodations and scaffolds for student needs ( notes, tools, modified length, different ways of demonstrating knowledge).
Considerations
Teachers may assign homework for the entire week on Monday and students will have the opportunity to exercise time management to complete assignments by the due date on Friday. This is a suggestion and not a requirement.
Makeups for homework should be allowed, the length of time allowed for late submission should be determined by the classroom teacher.
Schools will help ensure that tools required for homework assignments are readily available to students: laptop if needed, paper and materials, books, reading material, math tools etc.to take home.
Promotion Policy
General
The principal, after considering recommendations from members of the Student Support Process (SSP), may determine that a child, who is trying but lacks the maturity or has failed to grasp the basic skills, and can gain academically from an additional year at their present grade designation, may be retained for one year. Before retaining a student, all elementary principals will meet and collaborate with the Student Support Team. The school will provide notifications to caregivers.
The principal is the final authority in promotion at the building level and for good cause may override the passing of promotional subject requirements. In all such cases, the principal must file a statement with their supervisor stating the reasons for such promotions and the steps that will be taken to provide the necessary remediation at the next level.