Cluster Attendance Policy
Because of the trimester program's hybrid nature, there are two components to the attendance policy of the trimester program. There are four Saturday cluster meetings in each term and students are expected to attend all of them. Students who miss any of these meetings without official documentation such as a doctor’s note, flight cancellation or delay document from the airline, inclement weather that closes roads and highways to the St. Louis metropolitan area and campus, or events beyond the control of the student may have a significant grade drop in one or both courses in the cluster. A student who has missed or will miss two cluster meetings without the proper documentation will receive failing grades in the cluster. Students who miss a cluster meeting with an acceptable excuse will be given an equivalent amount of work by the instructor to complete as a make-up for the work they missed. All new students are required to attend New Student Orientation face-to-face. Attendance at orientation is considered part of the scheduled coursework and attendance will be taken accordingly. Additionally, because the term begins on Mondays and the face-to-face orientation is on the following Friday, students are expected to attend an online orientation on the evening of the first day of the term for guidelines and directions on how to complete the first week’s assignments. Any student who fails to attend the online orientation is still required to complete all first week assignments. No excuses will be accepted.
In addition, the attendance policy is structured so that it incorporates tardiness and early departure from class as part of overall attendance reporting. Students are expected to arrive for the beginning of class periods and remain until the instructor terminates the class meeting.
Instructors will monitor and record the names of students who arrive late for class meetings or who leave class early. Tardy or early departure absences are cumulative and counted according to the school's absence reporting policy. Students who accumulate eight hours of tardy or early departure penalties will be assessed one Saturday absence and will face a drop in grade in one or both classes in the cluster, depending on the instructor’s judgement. This policy shall be strictly enforced except in the event of the occurrence of any of the mitigating conditions stated above with supporting official documents. In such cases, an equivalent make-up work will be assigned by the instructor.
The other component of the attendance policy is the online attendance policy. Participation in any academic related activity such as responding to a post, submitting an assignment, etc. is considered attendance. However, to score the maximum points for the week, students are required to complete all the weekly online assignments, actively participate in weekly online discussions, and take assigned online quizzes, if any. Attendance will be recorded for each week through participation in the weekly discussions. Students who do not participate in the online activities will score an “F” grade for that week’s discussion. Students who do not participate in the discussions for two weeks will have a grade drop in one or both courses in the cluster. Students who miss or will miss discussions for seven weeks and who do not withdraw before the withdrawal date will earn an “F” in that cluster. A week in the trimester program is defined as Monday through Sunday.
Students are expected to take quizzes and submit assignments by the due date set by the instructor. Quizzes and assignments submissions will be blocked after the due date and students will score “F” for quiz or the assignment if they are not completed.