Drop conflict recognized

Published in Long Beach City College's Viking newspaper in 2005.

A memo titled census reporting was sent to teachers, deans and directors Wednesday, Nov. 30 clarifying a previous memo introducing a new class withdrawal policy, which seemed to conflict with the state's drop date regulation.
Authored by interim Vice President of Student Support Services Pauline Merry, interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Donald Berz and Academic Senate President David Morse, the memo acknowledges the contradiction and realizes a solution must be found.
The first memo titled, "Clean your rosters, full-term weekly attendance classes" was forwarded to all department heads, teachers and deans.
Originally sent by former interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Joyce Black, the memo states that in Fall 2004 and again in Spring 2005, hundreds of students were recorded as never-attended or no-shows on the final grade roster and made financial and legal impacts on the college.
The new withdrawal policy eliminates the option to input the never-attended, the memo states. Teachers are forced to determine a student's status, active or inactive, by the fourth Monday of a semester otherwise a student will receive a withdrawal, the memo also explained.
"Because we're here in college, it's our responsibility to show up or drop out of a class," student Christine Carlberg said. "It's the process of growing up."
Physical sceince teacher Dave Sholle said he responded to an early-November memo with concern because the change occurring mid-semester might affect students who were not dropped by this semester's census deadline.
"Students will falsely be given W's when they don't deserve one," Sholle said. "I have tried to drop these students, as requested, giving them a W, which will be reverted into a never-attended and a date of last attendance, but PeopleSoft is forcing me to enter a false date of last attendance, which will result in a W."
College leaders realize that the situation could affect the status of students who stopped attending a class before the census date, but were not dropped, the memo explained.
Therefore, if any student is negatively impacted by the action, the student can file a change of grade request, and legitimate errors will be corrected on a case-by-case basis for this semester only, according to the memo.