The Classroom

Class Periods

The Schedule of Classes is the College’s contractual agreement with the students; therefore, all classes must meet at the time scheduled. Faculty members must not deviate from the published time schedule or move a class to a different meeting place even temporarily without the approval of the Office of Academic Affairs. Reasonable requests for changes in room locations will be honored, if possible, in consultation with the Department Chair. If there is a change in class location, a change form must be filled out by the Department Chair and submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs.

Most of our short sessions like 11:10am - 12:35pm don't require a break. A two-hour meeting time like 4pm - 6pm requires a 10-minute break. If it is a three-hour meeting time like 6:50pm - 10:00pm, a 20-minute break is required. Faculty can split up these times into two or three shorter breaks if they choose.

Classroom Care and Safety

Smoking, eating, and drinking are not permitted in classrooms or other instructional areas. All faculty are asked to make sure the white or chalk board is cleaned after class, turn out the lights and lock the doors when leaving the classroom and evening faculty members should also close and lock windows at the end of their classes. Most buildings on campus have thermostat-controlled heating and cooling and therefore windows and doors should remain closed. Please contact Plant Facilities if there is a safety issue in your classroom.

Final Exams

Final Examinations are to be given in all subjects according to the schedule printed in the Schedule of Classes and may not be administered before the date printed therein. No student will be excused from taking a final examination. It is best to inform students of your final exam time and date in the course syllabus. All faculty shall retain the final exams of every student for a minimum of one year after the end of the semester for which the final exam was given in order to permit students to examine their graded final exams

Learning Disabled Students

Location: Student Services Building – Building 4800, 1st Floor

Hours: Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A Learning Disabled student is a student with average or above-average intelligence whose academic performance does not measure up to his/her intellectual potential. The reasons for this discrepancy are varied, but they are not related to the student’s work or study habits or to lack of effort. Faculty members should be alerted by students who complain about the number of times they must re-read sections of their textbooks, or by students who say they knew the material but performed poorly on a test.

Faculty who have learning disabled students in their classes can expect to be contacted by the Learning Disabilities Specialist regarding how to optimize the learning potential of these students. Faculty who suspect that they have learning disabled students in any of their classes can refer those students to the Specialist for testing.

Syllabus

During the first week of classes, the Instructor of Record shall provide students, the Department Chairperson, and the Office of Academic Affairs, either hard copy or electronically, a syllabus that clearly states the work product which will be the basis for determining each student’s grade as well as the grading criteria. The syllabus shall include the approved course student learning outcomes, an accommodation statement for students informing them of services available through the DSPS office, instructor contact information, and a reference to the student code of conduct as it relates to academic dishonesty (Board Rule 9803.28).

Equity, Diversity, inclusion Team (EDIT) Syllabi Template

Copy Tech

Location: College Services Building – Building 2100

Hours: Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Copy Tech provides walk-in duplicating services provided the quantity is limited. Larger quantities may be dropped off for later pick-up. Limited word processing services for faculty and staff are also available. All of these services are limited to material distributed free and used directly in the classroom or for business related to department requirements. Adequate lead-time is necessary for preparation of reprographic materials.

Religious Holidays

Students have the option of observing officially recognized religious holidays without being penalized. They must, however, make up any work that is missed. Instructors are encouraged not to schedule exams on officially recognized religious holidays. By the last day to add the class, students are responsible to inform the instructor of any anticipated absences due to observance of major religious holidays so that alternative arrangements may be made. Failure to do so may result in an inability to make other arrangements or a lower grade.

Room Reservations

Rooms are available on campus for meetings or classes and may be reserved. Depending on what room you need to reserve, a different person may need to be contacted. Please contact you Chair or Dean for further assistance.

Tape Recording in Classrooms

It is generally unlawful for a student to use an electronic listening device or tape recorder in class without the consent of the faculty member. However, recent legislation allows handicapped students with certain disabilities to use a tape recorder. Education Code section 78907 provides: "The use by any person, including a student, of any electronic listening or recording device in any classroom without the prior consent of the instructor is prohibited, except as necessary to provide reasonable auxiliary aids and academic adjustments to disabled students."

Record Keeping for the Classroom

Attendance Roster

An accurate record of daily class attendance is required for all classes through census day. For semester-length classes, faculty members will need to confirm student's attendance in the first 2 weeks of the course by submitting a Census Roster in SIS. Add codes will be available in SIS for the 1st 2 weeks of the semester, please make sure to track who you give what number to, and who successfully registered for your class. Any NO SHOWS must be dropped by the census date. For positive attendance classes (classes without a census day), daily attendance records must be kept throughout the class (I.e. ENCORE programs). A special Positive Attendance Roster is provided for these classes and is due back to the Admissions Office at the end of the semester along with your grades.

Academic Dismissal and Probation

The Los Angeles Community College District has set the probation and dismissal policies for all colleges in the District. These policies are published in the College Catalog.

ACADEMIC PROBATION A student who is on academic probation shall be subject to dismissal if the student has earned a cumulative grade-point-average of less than 2.0 in all units attempted in each of 3 consecutive semesters. A student who is on academic probation and earns a semester grade-point-average of 2.0 or better shall not be dismissed as long as this minimum semester grade-point-average is maintained.”

DISMISSAL A student who is subject to dismissal, and who has not been continued on probation through the appeal process, shall be notified by the College President, or designee, of dismissal which will become effective the semester following notification. Dismissal from any one college in the District shall disqualify a student from admission to any other college in the District.

Academic Dishonesty

In order to maintain an environment free of academic dishonesty, the following recommendations are made to the faculty regarding their responsibility to uphold academic integrity: • Make every attempt to conduct their classroom in a manner which encourages honorable behavior and learning, to ensure student success and discourage academic dishonesty. • Inform students of the course requirements, grading procedures and expectations of responsible academic conduct. • Inform students of the College policy on Academic Integrity and the potential consequences for violations of this policy. • Inform students of their right to due process should they wish to contest the cheating allegation. Academic Dishonety forms can be found here.

Retention of Written Work and Grade Records

To the extent that student work product takes the form of written work, such written work shall, if not returned to the student, be retained by the faculty member for at least one year from the end of the term in which the course was taken. All faculty grade records shall be retained by the faculty member for at least a one-year period. All written work and grade records shall be stored on campus. (BOARD RULE 6703.20 )

Auditing

Students wishing to audit a class must gain permission to do so at the instructor’s discretion. Students must officially audit a course through the Admissions Office by the last day to add a class. In addition, according to P. 19 of the catalog:

1. Students must pay a fee of $15 per unit to audit a course. Students enrolled in classes to receive credit for ten or more semester units shall not be charged a fee to audit three or fewer semester units per semester.

2. Students auditing a course shall not be permitted to change their enrollment in that course to receive credit for the course. Likewise, student enrolled for credit, cannot change their enrollment to an audit status.

3. Priority in class enrollment shall be given to students desiring to take the course for credit.

4. Participation in class activities by student auditors will be solely at the discretion of the instructor, who may provide a written statement of the extent of participation allowed beyond observation.

Credit-by-Exam

Departments may designate certain courses as eligible for credit by exam. Students petition through the Admissions Office and, if they meet the minimum requirements listed in the College Catalog, the petitions are approved and forwarded to the department. After administering the exam, the Department Chair forwards the results to the Admissions Office for processing. Students will receive a grade of either “Credit” or “No Credit.” See page 256 of the college catalog.

Pass/No Pass

There are two types of pass/no pass grading situations. In the first situation, a class is designated as “Pass/No Pass Grading Only.” Everyone enrolling in this type of class receives a grade of either “Pass” or “No Pass.” In the second situation, students have the option of petitioning through the Admissions Office for credit/no credit grading in one class each semester. The list of eligible courses is printed in the Schedule of Classes. Faculty members assign a letter grade of “A through F” and it is automatically translated to “Pass” or “No Pass” as appropriate.

Exclusion Rosters

Instructors may exclude students for non-attendance whenever their unexcused absences total one-week’s worth of class time.

Standard policy is for instructors to exclude non-participating students through census and not to exclude at all after census. Students should drop themselves to avoid fees or grades of "W" or "F". Although faculty are permitted to exclude students up until the last day to drop, they must also maintain accurate daily attendance records through the last day to drop to justify their exclusions.

Exclusion rosters are completed online and serve a dual purpose. First, all students no longer attending should be excluded. Second, upon completing the exclusion roster you are certifying that those students not excluded are still attending your class. Since state funding is based on attendance, your statement is the basis for our apportionment claim. For a complete explanation of the exclusion process, consult the Information for Faculty on Attendance and Grading Forms packet.

Students are expected to be in class on time and to remain for the entire class period. Medical appointments, work, job interviews, childcare responsibilities, etc. should be arranged so as not to occur during class time. Please do not make requests for exceptions. Any student who has unexcused absences equaling one week’s worth of class time prior to census date may be excluded. Any student who has unexcused absences equaling one week’s worth of class time prior to census date may be excluded.

Students who are registered in a class and miss the first meeting may lose their right to a place in the class, but the instructor may consider special circumstances. Instructors will generally only exclude students through the census date for non-attendance. It is the student’s responsibility to drop classes in time to avoid fees and/or grades of “W”.

Students wishing to drop one or more classes must do so through their student portal at mycollege.laccd.edu. To avoid grade penalties and fees, it is the student’s responsibility to officially drop from class by the deadline using the student portal. Drop deadlines can be found in your student portal/class schedule/ academic calendar deadlines. Any drops or exclusions that occur after the no penalty drop date (under last day to drop without a “W”) and up to 75% of the time the class is scheduled will result in a “W” on the student’s record which will be included in the determination of progress probation. Withdrawals are not permitted beyond 75% of class meeting time. A grade (A, B, C, D, F, P, INC, or NP) will be assigned to students who are enrolled past the last day to drop even if they stop attending class. Withdrawal from class after the final state mandated drop date as published in the catalog and schedule of classes can only be approved for extenuating circumstances. In all cases, the reason must be specifically documented and verified.

Grade Changes

Submit grade changes to the Graduation Office. Grade changes are only appropriate in cases of faculty member error in the calculation of the original grade. Faculty members cannot change a letter grade to a “W.” Students may petition for a late withdrawal through the Admissions and Records Office.

Grading and Grade Reports

Grades are due back to the Graduation Office no later than 5 college workdays after the end of the final examination period. Grades may be submitted through the SIS System, using Pierce Online to access the Grade Rosters.

The Instructor of Record for the course shall determine the grade to be awarded to each student. The determination of the student’s grade by the instructor is final in the absence of mistake, fraud, bad faith, or incompetency. For purposes of this section, “mistake” may include, but is not limited to, clerical errors and errors made by an instructor in calculating a student’s grade. The removal or change of an incorrect grade from a student’s record shall only be done upon authorization by the Instructor of Record for the course, or upon authorization by the College President upon the conclusion of the grade grievance process. In the case of fraud, bad faith, or incompetency, the final determination concerning removal or change of grade will be made by the College President. No grade may be challenged by a student more than one year from the end of the term in which the course was taken absent extenuating circumstances; if a college’s academic senate has determined that extenuating circumstances apply, then that period of time during which grades may be challenged should be more than one year, such longer period shall apply at that college.

Incompletes

Grades of Incomplete should only be assigned when emergency circumstances prevent a student from completing the very end of the term. An incomplete Grade can be assigned with the final grades through SIS. When a student completes the missing course work, you can assign a final grade in the Graduation Office. Students have ONE YEAR to make up the work. The Student and Faculty will work together to assure that the student makes up the necessary assignments and then submit an Incomplete Card to Admissions and Records to rectify the Incomplete.

Incomplete academic work for unforeseeable, emergency, and justifiable reasons at the end of the term may result in an “I” symbol being entered in the student’s record. The condition for removal of the “I” and the grade which is assigned in lieu of shall be stated by the instructor in an Incomplete Grade Record. This record shall be given to the student, with a copy on file in the college Admissions Office until the “I” is made up and a final grade assigned, or when one year has passed. The “I” symbol shall not be used in calculating units attempted nor for grade points. The “I” may be made up no later than one year following the end of the term in which it was assigned. The student may petition for a time extension due to unusual circumstances. Note: Courses in which the student has received an Incomplete (“I”) may not be repeated unless the “I” is removed and has been replaced by a grade of “D” or “F”.

Student Absences

Only students who have been admitted to the College and are in approved active status may attend classes.

Students are expected to be in class on time and to remain for the entire class period. Medical appointments, work, job interviews, child- care responsibilities, etc. should be arranged so as not to occur during class time. Please do not make requests for exceptions.

Any student who has unexcused absences equaling one week’s worth of class time prior to census date may be excluded. Students may drop the class online, before the last day to drop. Students should never rely on the instructor to exclude them. Do not call the college offices to report absences; call the course instructor.

By the last day to add the class, students are responsible to inform the instructor of any anticipated absences due to observance of major reli- gious holidays so that alternative arrangements may be made. Failure to do so may result in an inability to make other arrangements or a lower grade.

Students who are registered in a class and miss the first meeting may lose their right to a place in the class, but the instructor may consider special circumstances. Instructors will generally only exclude students through the census date for non-attendance. It is the student’s respon- sibility to drop classes in time to avoid fees and/or grades of “W”.

See section “Adding and Dropping” under Registration Policies.

Withdrawals

Drops or exclusions between the end of 30% of the time the class is scheduled to meet (Monday of the third week for semester-length classes) and 75% of the time the class is scheduled to meet (the end of the twelfth week for semester-length classes) will result in a grade of "W" for withdrawn. Individual class deadline dates are printed on the top of the attendance roster. Students may drop by telephone, on-line or in person in the Admissions and Records Office. Students may petition to drop after the last day to drop with documentation of emergency circumstances. A copy of the student's petition is forwarded for comment to each faculty member involved.

Student Behavior in the Classroom

At the beginning of every academic semester a faculty member should distribute a syllabus to his/her students that indicates not only what is expected of students from an academic standpoint, but also the instructor’s policies on attendance and behavior in the classroom as these may affect student grades. For example, if a faculty member indicates that a student caught cheating will receive an “F” grade for an assignment, then any student who contemplates such an action will understand the likely outcome if he/she is caught cheating.

Contained within the Pierce College Catalog is the Los Angeles Community College District “Conduct Code for Students” based on Rule 9803. The code sets twenty standards that, if violated, can subject a student to College disciplinary action. When a student in a class demonstrates unacceptable behavior that violates the Conduct Code for Students, there is a disciplinary policy that a faculty member should follow to correct the problem:

Remind the class that your standard for appropriate behavior has been set forth in the syllabus and/or in the Conduct Code for Students.
Should a student persist in being disruptive:
1. Issue the student a verbal warning.
2. If it continues, issue a written warning.
If a verbal and written warning are inadequate:
1. A faculty member may suspend a student from his/her class for up to two class days.
2. If a student fails to leave the class when directed, the Campus Sheriffs should be contacted and assistance requested.
If a student is suspended for only one class meeting, no additional formal disciplinary action is necessary. If the student is suspended for two class meetings, the faculty member should explain, in writing, the circumstances surrounding the suspension of the student and send it to the Department Chair, who will forward it to the area Dean, the Vice President of Academic Affairs, and the Vice President of Student Services.

The instructor may recommend to the appropriate instructional administrator or the Chief Instructional Officer that the student be suspended for longer than two class meetings. If the instructor, student and appropriate administrator cannot resolve the matter, the matter shall be referred to the Chief Student Services Officer who shall consider further disciplinary action (Board Rule 91101).

If a student should act out in a way that is threatening and there is a sense of urgency, then the above-mentioned warnings can be dispensed with and the student can be suspended immediately. The notification procedures, however, must still be followed. Further disciplinary actions, such as longer suspensions and expulsions, will be carried out by the Vice President of Student Services, following Board Rule 91101, which assures due process for students violating the Conduct Code for Students.

In all cases of disruptive behavior or if you suspect a student may put themselves in harm, please fill out a BSAFE referral and submit it to their team : Bsafe-pierce@piercecollege.edu

If you find that discipline in your classroom is a problem, then you might want to consider discussing the problem with either your Department Chair, the Vice President of Student Services or one of the Deans of Academic Affairs. They may be able to help you devise strategies that might work in your particular situation. We have a responsibility to all students to maintain an environment that is conducive to learning and, therefore, it is very important to establish clear classroom standards and enforce them immediately.

If there is a medical emergency in your class, notify the Sherriff immediately

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