Override school eligibility

School selection overrides allow staff to add a school to a student's rankings even when the student isn't eligible to select it themselves. Use this when staff need to place students into programs families can't choose on their own, such as special programs that require staff review.

When overrides are turned on, staff can see every active school on the enrollment period during school selection. Each override is recorded with a reason, so your team always knows why a student was placed in a school outside their eligibility.

Turn on staff school selection overrides

Overrides are set per form template.

1. Open the form template you want to update.
2. Go to Advanced settings.
3. Turn on Allow staff school selection overrides.
4. Review the additional options that appear (see the next section).
5. Publish your changes.

Staff can now see and select from all active schools on the enrollment period when editing school selection on this form. Inactive schools won't appear.

Customize labels and override reasons

When overrides are on, a few more options appear in Advanced settings.

1. Eligibility labels. During school selection, staff see each school marked as Eligible or Ineligible. You can rename these labels to match the terms your team uses, such as "Meets criteria" and "Staff placement only."
2. Override reason format. Choose how staff enter a reason when they select an ineligible school:
   • Selectable options: Staff pick from a list of reasons you set up.
   • Free text: Staff type their own reason.
3. Make override reason optional. By default, staff must enter a reason for every override. Turn this setting on if you want the reason to be optional.

Add an ineligible school for a student

1. Open the student's form response.
2. Edit the school selection section.
3. Find the school you want to add. Ineligible schools appear grayed out with an Ineligible label, but you can still select them.
4. Select the school. A confirmation window opens.
5. Enter an override reason, then confirm.

The school is added to the student's rankings. The override reason is saved in the History tab of the form response, where other staff can see it.

What families see

Families don't see Eligible or Ineligible labels, and they can't add ineligible schools themselves.

If a family can still edit their school rankings, they can re-rank or remove a school that staff added through an override.

Filter for students with an override

You can filter in the form list view for all students who have an ineligible school in their rankings.