Attendance

Attendance

POLICY OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF PEARL RIVER COMMUNITY COLLEGE 

Adopted: Tuesday, April 13, 1976
Revision Number: 9 
Revision Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 
Reference: Educational Programs

Policy:

Pearl River Community College expects regular and punctual attendance of all students.

Procedure:

Absences –

  1. Regular semester day and all night classes – Academic and technical students missing a class more than twice the times it meets in a week during a semester will be dismissed from that class due to excessive absences. Students enrolled in a career-technical education lab will be allowed a maximum of six absences during a semester.
  2. Summer day classes – Academic and technical students are allowed only two absences during any four week term. Students enrolled in an eight week career-technical education lab are allowed four absences.
  3. Weekend classes – A student should not be absent from any part of a weekend class. Only in extreme circumstances may a student be excused by the instructor for missing any portion of a weekend class session.
  4. A student participating in a provided online course will be allowed two (2) absences for full-term (15 weeks) online courses and one (1) absence for short-term online courses. Attendance will be monitored weekly by timely submission of assignments, including tests, homework, projects, discussion board entries, etc. A student is expected to complete such assignments by the appropriate due date. Failure to complete such assignments by the due date will be recorded as an absence. Upon the third absence in a full-term course and second absence in a short-term course, the student will be administratively withdrawn from the course barring any extenuating circumstances.
  5. Other classes – A student may not be absent more than twice as many times as the number of semester hours of credit conveyed by a course. An absence is defined in this case as missing fifty (50) minutes of a lecture (or equivalent) class, or missing one hundred (100) minutes of a laboratory, shop, activity, or field type of class.
  6. An instructor may propose a stricter rule for absences or tardies from a class if approved by the instructor’s immediate supervisor and by the next level of administration.
  7. The absence rule for any class must be included in the course syllabus provided to all students at the first meeting of the class.

Attendance –

  1. To pass a course, a student is required to take all tests scheduled by the instructor and satisfactorily fulfill the performance objectives of each course.
  2. If a student has to miss class, on the day the student returns to class, he or she has the responsibility of contacting the instructor in order to schedule any make-up work.
  3. A student may make up work missed if valid reasons for missing, such as illness, accident, or other extenuating circumstances are accepted by the instructor. A student has one week after returning to class to schedule make up work unless circumstances indicate that extra time is needed. Regular scheduled tests and examinations missed without a valid reason will be recorded as a grade of zero.
  4. Students will be informed of those programs which may have specific attendance requirements mandated by external agencies and/or program guidelines.
  5. After a student cuts out of a class he/she cannot be readmitted to that class without permission from the instructor.
    1. A request for a hearing with the instructor must be made one (1) day after the student has been informed by the instructor that he/she has been dropped from class due to excessive absences.
    2. Readmission to class will be determined based on reasonable evidence presented to the instructor. Therefore, students requesting a hearing should be prepared to show proof to support their argument for excessive absences, i.e. a doctor’s excuse, etc.
  6. School business will not be counted as an absence from class. Faculty and staff members responsible for activities requiring students to miss school must receive approval from the appropriate Campus Vice President and provide notification to the students’ instructors through the College’s Electronic Attendance Monitoring System.
  7. A record of class attendance will be kept beginning with the date of the first class meeting.
  8. Instructors are required to complete the online “cut-out” forms no later than Thursday at 3:00 p.m. of the following week.
  9. Three tardies will count as one absence. A tardy of fifteen minutes or more will be considered an absence. A student leaving any class without official dismissal will be counted absent.
  10. An instructor of an online course will record attendance in a manner prescribed by the Office of eLearning. An online student is classified as active, dropped, or withdrawn with the last date of attendance recorded. These categories are defined as follows:
    1. Active – Contact is being made on a regular basis and student is current in all assignments. However, active can also mean that the student is behind on submitting assignments but is in contact with the instructor and has not exceeded the allowed number of absences.
    2. Dropped – Student was dropped from the course by the instructor because the student has exceeded the maximum allowed absences.
    3. Withdrawn – Student dropped the course and documentation submitted by student is confirmed.
    The last date of attendance (LDA) for a student whether dropped or withdrawn will be the last date the student submitted work in the course. The student’s attendance status is determined by the instructor and supported by the student’s participation in coursework.
Updated on August 18, 2023

Each community college president is asked to bring two (2) wrapped door prizes, minimum value of $50 each. We will have a station set up at the conference for you to drop off the door prizes.

Each community college is asked to provide name tags for their Board members, administration, and staff attending the conference.