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You are in quite a dilemma I can see.
After ending up in court from topping a tree I decided that no amount of money would entice me to do a job that was not good for the tree.
There are a few things that you might consider when/if you do the job:
1: If the tree fails at a later date do you have enough insurance to pay for the claim? If someone is hurt or killed because of the failure, do you have the fortitude to not be bothered by your responsibility in not removing the tree?
2: Can you explain to EVERYONE who sees the tree after you top it that you are just doing this as a temporary fix? I have a client that could not afford to have a tree cut down that was a hazard. What I did was take off the limbs to about five or six inch stubs. Then I girdled the trunk with a fifteen inch debarked swath and left the tree as standing firewood. We will remove the firewood at a later date. The "tree" no longer exists, it is now firewood.
3: Our profession is struggling with making a good impression on consumers by telling them that topping is bad. When uneducated consumers see the topped trees it validates this as a standard practice.
4: The name of your company is on the side of the trucks that are on the job and people will associate your name with the topped tree. You cannot tell them that you REALLY don't want to do the job.
5: Ask the people at this school if they teach the students that cheating is OK. Cheating is easier because I don't have to do the work to reap the benefit but it is WRONG! It is lieing! Once you start to lie, when do you stop.
Monitoring the tree may be OK but maybe the tree should come down now. After students pass the standards for one grade they are passed to the next. The time comes for them to get on with the next part of their life. Trees are no different.
When I teach tree pruning, I use education as a metaphor. It works very well. With a little work we can train unruly trees. When trees have finished their education they graduate. Maybe that means we turn them into chips for mulching a new grove of trees that will grow into a new generation of trees. Would it be possible to save part of the branch crown as a climbing gym in the playground? With the tree layed on its side and a thick layer of clean chips underneath the kids can climb trees! Can anyone argue with the value of that! Is the trunk sound enough to be milled? Maybe the lumber can be used for a school project.
Good luck resolving this dilemma!
Tom Dunlap