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She has sustained damages by not being able to apply for, nor accept employment in her chosen field because of lack of credentials. She is accruing damages in the amount of what her salary would be for the entire time that she cannot get a job because of the professor's negligence. Plus punitive damages Times (X3) three.
Go for it, I say. Sue the pants off of him.
20yrsinBranson
I'm accruing damages from you not hiring me to be your personal typist at $1,000/day too.
The professor has zero legal responsibility to change the OP's grade from an I unless there is an incomplete contract. There is no negligence for not taking an action that the professor has no obligation to take. And if the OP were to sue, the professor can simply turn change the I to the OP's final grade at the end of the semester, which it sounds like would likely be an F. Lawsuit would be dead in the water.
For those of you who are confused... An incomplete is not an F in a course. A professor hands out 1 or 2 incompletes per a semester to students with extenuating circumstances that were previously on track to outperform. It is typically reserved for students that have suffered a temporary loss of physical or mental capacity with the expectation that they will recover shortly.
I'd say 1 or 2 is generous. I've given two in my whole life, and in my department we just don't give them anymore at all (there may be some way to do it in truly exceptional cases, but we'd have to convince the chair first). Also, the only 2 I gave ended up failing the class because even with the extra time they didn't get the work done.
For those of you who are confused... An incomplete is not an F in a course. A professor hands out 1 or 2 incompletes per a semester to students with extenuating circumstances that were previously on track to outperform. It is typically reserved for students that have suffered a temporary loss of physical or mental capacity with the expectation that they will recover shortly.
This. I had a breakdown in college and requested an INC for a class I had been making an A in and took mercy Bs and Cs for the others. Luckily a lot of my classes that semester were of the auditorium variety so most of my profs didn't notice my absence. I was able to catch up in those classes, but the class I took an INC in had only 12 people in it. No way around that one. The professor didn't have to give me an INC but she sympathized with me. I had to make the work up the following semester by re-sitting the class in audit and my grade was not turned in until 8 months after I took the INC.
Here's my question to the OP. You said you were under extreme stress and couldn't complete the final assignments by the end of the Spring Semester.
Unless you are on some form of quarter system the spring semester ended in late April, early May. This means it took you almost 3 months to turn in these final 4 assignments. Why did it take you so long? If it were me and I knew my prof was going on sabbatical in the fall I would have gotten them turned in before the end of June (which still would have left you 2 months to complete 4 assignments).
Seems to me that you procastinated on the incomplete, which could have upset the professor, or the prof. could have simply decided that if you get the assignments in before her sabbatical she would make the effort to change the grade, if the OP gets it in at the last possible second she will get to it when she gets to it.
Here's my question to the OP. You said you were under extreme stress and couldn't complete the final assignments by the end of the Spring Semester.
Unless you are on some form of quarter system the spring semester ended in late April, early May. This means it took you almost 3 months to turn in these final 4 assignments. Why did it take you so long? If it were me and I knew my prof was going on sabbatical in the fall I would have gotten them turned in before the end of June (which still would have left you 2 months to complete 4 assignments).
Seems to me that you procastinated on the incomplete, which could have upset the professor, or the prof. could have simply decided that if you get the assignments in before her sabbatical she would make the effort to change the grade, if the OP gets it in at the last possible second she will get to it when she gets to it.
Because I had a nervous breakdown from the stress of the spring semester.
I did not procrastinate on the incomplete.
As the poster BigDGeek explained; INC are taken when there are extenuating circumstances for the student who cannot complete the coursework on time. I had a valid reason for taking an Incomplete.
The timing of my professor's "sabbatical" and my need to process and recover from everything didn't line up. She never told me an exact date for her sabbatical deadline, so I went by the date my university set for all students which was September 5th. It was the professor's responsibility to tell me an exact date which she didn't, even when I asked her via email. I turned in my last assignments by the required date for summer and for spring Incompletes.
This. I had a breakdown in college and requested an INC for a class I had been making an A in and took mercy Bs and Cs for the others. Luckily a lot of my classes that semester were of the auditorium variety so most of my profs didn't notice my absence. I was able to catch up in those classes, but the class I took an INC in had only 12 people in it. No way around that one. The professor didn't have to give me an INC but she sympathized with me. I had to make the work up the following semester by re-sitting the class in audit and my grade was not turned in until 8 months after I took the INC.
And I was grateful.
Glad to know that someone else in this conversation thread once took an Incomplete.
I had a nervous breakdown during the spring semester and took time to recover and then had to start a full-time temp job after graduation so I was in full-on stress mode all summer until I finished my last assignments before my university's summer grade deadline.
It's unfortunate that my professor didn't give her sabbatical date deadline to me, otherwise I wouldn't be in this situation, and that's why I'm so upset now. She's been a professor at my university for 30 years so she knows when the grade deadlines are for every semester, including summer.
Last edited by Midwest Maven; 09-11-2013 at 09:35 AM..
She has sustained damages by not being able to apply for, nor accept employment in her chosen field because of lack of credentials. She is accruing damages in the amount of what her salary would be for the entire time that she cannot get a job because of the professor's negligence. Plus punitive damages Times (X3) three.
Go for it, I say. Sue the pants off of him.
20yrsinBranson
Thanks. I agree completely. There were quite a few education related jobs that I qualify for with just a masters degree that I can't apply for until my professor turns in my grade. Even my university's transcript coordinator commented on that fact when I spoke to her on the phone on Monday about my situation.
But a friend of mine with a masters told me to start applying for those same types of jobs, and put "in progress" after my M.A. in Education on my resume so that school principals know the situation. I thought that was good advice.
I'm sure my professor may be irked that I had to contact my dept chair (chain of command unfortunately for student complaints) about this situation, but too bad. All she had to do was turn in my grade. She's holding up my ability to apply for education related jobs. I did contact an education lawyer via email who told me I would need to contact my state's board of education first. But for now I'm forced to go through my own university's chain of command.
I'm not even bothered by having failed my student teaching anymore. I just want the masters degree at ths point because I can still work in schools in some capacity with the masters degree.
For my last course in my masters of arts in teaching program I took an Incomplete due to the overwhelming stress of student teaching all day then taking this class at night once a week.
Grades were due on September 5th but my professor never turned my grades in, so I haven't been awarded my masters degree in education.
The last email she sent me was back in late July; she mentioned traveling to Alaska until the 25th of August and being out of touch until then. Well, it's September 9th and I haven't heard a word from her.
I contacted the transcript coordinator of my university's masters program and was told that the university has a contract clause with tenured professors in that the university is hands-off when it comes to whether or not professors turn in a student's grades. I took that as a bunch of b.s. and emailed the dean of education, venting my frustration. He reiterated the transcript coordinator's b.s. policy and told me that it was my responsibility to get in touch with the professor to get her to hand in my grade.
I'm so angry and hurt that this has happened to me. I don't know what to do? Do I hire a lawyer to sue the professor? That is extreme but my university's dean of education refuses to get involved so what options do I have?
Has anyone ever been in this situation?
I still have my course syllabus and did leave a voicemail for my professor, asking her to turn in my grades so that I can be awarded my masters degree. But if she doesn't, it's 3 years and over $60K wasted. I didn't get my teaching license either (that's another thread here that I won't go into details about because it's a moot point now).
I just can't believe this happened to me. What am I supposed to do now? Work at a coffee shop and live below the poverty line? I'm in my early 40s and single, and this is not how I envisioned the outcome for myself after completing an MAT program.
I'm so depressed I can't eat or sleep.
So you cannot handle student teaching and class one night each week yet you think you are prepared and completely able to handle a class room full of children?
My son in law student taught, got his masters, attended class, had two babies (one who almost died shortly after birth), logged many sleepless nights at the hospital with the wee one, went through a major surgery with the wee one with many more sleepless nights at the hospital, AND...........
got his PHd in Mathematics and is currently Head Chair of the Mathematics department at a huge University after being there less than 8 years and he is 33 years old.....
Location: Prescott Valley,az summer/east valley Az winter
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Midwest Maven
Because I had a nervous breakdown from the stress of the spring semester.
I did not procrastinate on the incomplete.
As the poster BigDGeek explained; INC are taken when there are extenuating circumstances for the student who cannot complete the coursework on time. I had a valid reason for taking an Incomplete.
The timing of my professor's "sabbatical" and my need to process and recover from everything didn't line up. She never told me an exact date for her sabbatical deadline, so I went by the date my university set for all students which was September 5th. It was the professor's responsibility to tell me an exact date which she didn't, even when I asked her via email. I turned in my last assignments by the required date for summer and for spring Incompletes.
According to your own posts she told you that as of August 25 she would be on sabbatical. She was kind enough to offer to grade your work if you turned it in previous to august 25th. By your own words you chose not to turn in your work until 3 days after that deadline. Being on sabbatical she has absolutely no contact with the university until her sabbatical is over. Either wait until she is off sabbatical or take your incomplete or redo the course. She and the university have absolutely no responsibility to do anything about your grade until your prof is off sabbatical next year.
We're talking about a university here. Tenure is warranted.
Right, cause we wouldn't want them to loose their university job and try to earn a living outside the class room.
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