Foreign Language requirements : what does 3 years of HS language mean? I know.. dumb question but...

So I guess in a nutshell I need to know if “three years” means three actual years taken during high school or “to the third high school level.” My son switched private schools during middle school. His previous school started Latin classes at the grade school level. He was an outstanding Latin student and his new school allowed him to take High School Latin 2 as an 8th grader after taking a placement test. He got an A in that class and, since its a high school credit class, that goes on his high school transcript. This year (9th) he took Latin 3, will finish at the end of this week, he also has a high A average. So one more year on the transcript, and 2 is all that’s needed for the school’s Advanced Diploma. Here’s my problem… our intention was Latin 4/ AP Latin next year but the school is not going to offer it as they will not have critical mass for the class. I can try to take it outside of school, online (not an idea winning popularity points) but in order for the school to add it to the official transcript it must be accredited. That is somewhat tricky to find especially since I need a class of similar rigor (which is to say, sort of middling rigor, less so than courses from a classical studies program … such Lukeion ) or else he could wind up, upon placement, re-doing “Latin 3” simply because the rigor is greater, which wouldn’t get us much, transcript wise until AP Latin his 11th grade year, which was not the plan. The guidance counselor says he should just be all done with foreign language, he has enough credits for their diploma and thinks most colleges (he is looking at Virginia Tech for engineering or CompSci) will not care but if we’re worried about it, he could take one or two years of Spanish, which seems pointless to me. Opinions?

In almost all cases, it means completion of the third level. There is an entire thread on the topic, so feel free to join the discussion there. Closing thread.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1802227-faq-foreign-language.html#latest