<p>I'm sure there is some sort of override system that will involve talking to your GC, showing your love for the subject in some odd way (previous grades, other classes in that subject matter, your ability to randomly blubber on about John Adams/logarithms/osmosis until your GC gets it already...), and proving that academically less competent students have the opportunity to take the AP.</p>
<p>But to answer your thread title question: Yes. They most certainly can, and if you can't override the system with some politely veiled whining, the school is still not in the wrong. It sucks, but it's allowable. The public school is supposed to educate everyone fairly and without discrimination based on race, gender, yaddayaddayadda. Technically your teacher is following the rules; she's just discriminating against you by not breaking them like she did for the others. That creates a much stickier situation than your public's system is designed to catch.</p>
<p>Also, I second (or third...) having your parents get a word in, especially if they're PTA members or otherwise heavily involved in the school system. If it can get grades changed in classes (unfair), surely it can get you in a class you'd like to be (fair).</p>