@techmom99- I feel your situation. We had something very similar with Algebra 11/Trig (IB). Despite attending class every day, doing all of her homework & the following: peer tutoring, teacher tutoring, daddy tutoring (who has a BS in Astrophysics from UCBerkeley & is an IP Lawyer) our child’s grade amounted to a D and she ended up not passing the respective Regents exam in 2015. She took it again over the summer and still did not pass. Our child is an otherwise bright and very curious student (a theater kid!) who was also enrolled in AP and Honors courses and doing, otherwise, quite well. I had read in a variety of NY news articles the testing enforced on our kids in NY has been under the proverbial microscope for a number of reasons. In our district, the Common Core curriculum switch happened without any training with the staff and could be considered a “cluster you know what”. Our district had record opt-out for the testing… With too much in hanging in the balance we did something quite drastic: we found jobs in Ohio and picked up & moved ( I was already consulting here and was quite happy with the slower pace and incredibly nice nature of most people). Husband & I had enough of the NY politics and shenanagans with our children’s education… Notice of our local high school being placed into a state receivorship was the straw that broke the camels back.
I’ve completely digressed from your comment re: Alg11/trig. I agree there should be some flexibility in HS course load when it comes to some of the requirements that are currently in place. 
Keep us posted with the outcome.
PS- If he winds up at Otterbien, it’s not too far from us. Also consider Kent State in Kent, OH. They have a BFA as well and a warm welcoming atmosphere. D was accepted to the school and has her Musical Theater audition in just 4 weeks!