View the 2010-2011 Catalog (4 MB) - Lake Tahoe Community College

POLICIES & PROCEDURESFORMAL GRIEVANCE PROCEDURESAt such time that a decision is made to use formal procedures, thestudent shall file a written statement of the charges and an appropriateremedy, and request a formal hearing by a grievance committee. Thewritten statement of charges and the request for a formal hearing shallbe filed with the Vice President, Academic Affairs and Student Services,or, if the Vice President, Academic Affairs and Student Services is aparty to the charges, with the Superintendent/President of the College.The hearing by a grievance committee shall be held within fifteen (15)days of the filing of the grievance.A request for a formal grievance must be filed within ninety (90) daysof the alleged offense, or within ten (10) days of the failure of theinformal procedure to resolve the grievance.The person(s) being charged in the grievance statement shall havetheir rights protected, including their right to receive a copy of thewritten statement of grievance, the right to counsel and other rightsoutlined elsewhere in these due process statements. Ample notice willbe given of the place, date and time of the grievance hearing.The grievance committee shall be comprised of full-time academicpersonnel and student representation. Persons who are a direct partyto a grievance may not sit on the committee for that hearing. Thestudent party to the proceedings may request that students not sit onthe grievance committee hearing his/her case.A representative of the grievance committee shall either deliver to thestudent in person or by certified mail a written report of the rulingand accomplish this within two (2) days of the committee’s meetingto hear the grievance. A copy of the written ruling shall be filed withthe appropriate College office.APPEALSAppeals may be taken by either party to the grievance in the followingmanner: a written appeal shall be directed to the Vice President,Academic Affairs and Student Services and post-marked not laterthan five (5) days from the time of receipt of the ruling of thegrievance committee. Appeals may be taken from the Vice President,Academic Affairs and Student Services’ office to the President andthen to the Board of Trustees, if necessary.At each level of appeal, except Board level, the same limitations oftime prevail: two (2) days from meeting to hand delivery or certifiedmailing of ruling to the parties, five (5) days from receipt of ruling torequest for appeal, an appeal hearing within fifteen (15) days, and two(2) days to delivery of that ruling. All time limits can be extended bymutual agreement of both parties. Cases filed late in a spring quarterwill be handled by a committee constituted in the normal mannerfrom available summer staff and students. In any case, the parties tothe case are entitled to be present and to have counsel during thehearing. The Board will meet privately in closed session during theiractual deliberations leading to their ruling.The Board will make a report of final action but will not releasedetailed information unless the student requests and is granted apublic hearing.A student’s status at the College shall not be jeopardized in any waybecause of his or her initiating grievance procedures. No record of thefact shall be entered into the student’s permanent academic record ortranscript. If formal proceedings result in a ruling that is adverse to42 LTCC CATALOG 2010-2011the student, a record may be entered in the student’s record accordingto appropriate College policies.FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS ANDPRIVACY ACTThe Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act requires educationalinstitutions to provide students (or their parents, if the students areunder 18 and have provided written consent) access to educationrecords directly related to the student. An opportunity is provided fora hearing to challenge the contents of the records.The College is required to obtain the written consent of the studentbefore releasing personally identifiable information about them fromrecords to other than a specified list of persons and agencies (see lastparagraph). These rights extend to present students and to formerstudents of the College as of September 1975.Education records generally include material related to admissions,enrollment in classes, grades and related academic information.These records are available to school officials who have legitimateeducational interest. School officials may include individualscontracted to perform services for the college.Such records will be made available for inspection and review bypresently and formerly enrolled students following completion andfiling of a request form with the Records Officer. All attempts toprovide records will be made immediately, but in no instance will thewaiting period be more than fifteen (15) working days.In case of a dispute concerning contents of the records, procedureshave been established (Student Grievance Procedure) for a hearing,and the President of the College, or his designee, will make the finaldecision as to action to be taken.The act provides that the College may release certain types ofinformation (directory information). To withhold disclosure, writtennotification must be received in the Office of Admissions and Recordsprior to the first day of the quarter the student is attending. Formsrequesting the withholding of directory information are available inAdmissions and Records. Lake Tahoe Community College assumesthat failure on the part of any student to specifically request thewithholding of categories of “Directory Information” indicatesindividual approval for disclosure.Directory Information could include student name, city of residence,mailing address, e-mail address, date and place of birth, major field ofstudy, participation in recognized activities and sports, dates ofattendance, degrees and awards received, the most recent previouseducational institution attended, height and weight of members ofathletic teams, and likenesses (such as photographs or video).A copy of the Guidelines of the Regulations will be available forinspection in the Admissions and Records Office during normalworking hours.CONFIDENTIALITY OF SOCIAL SECURITYNUMBERSStudent social security numbers are highly confidential and only usedfor internal administrative purposes. They are not printed on anydistributed documents except those required by state or federal law forfinancial aid, the Internal Revenue Service and/or other state andfederally mandated programs.