Concerning the parent who called the professor and wanted a make-up test for
the her son because he had an anxiety attack on exam day...
(1) Don't do anything illegal... such as talking to the parent. If a
student is 18 years old (or older) and a parent calls, unless the student
has signed a waiver giving you permission to talk to the parent, you have
broken FERPA law if you talk to the parent. The few times a parent has
called me, and there is no waiver, I simply tell the parent it is illegal
for me to talk to them about their son or daughter. If they want to change
that then they need to take the matter up with our "Director of academic
development services; counselor for disability services; ADA coordinator."
Any student who has a diagnosed disability or special need that they want us
to know about has to work through this person. She has the waiver forms and
knows those cases for which it is legal for us to talk to the parent.
Generally the parents talk to her, not me.
(2) Once it is established what the needs are, you can also break the law if
you don't accommodate the student. The accommodation could indeed include
offering a make-up exam because the student missed the scheduled exam
because of an anxiety attack.
We currently have a student who is diagnosed with (and clearly has) autism.
The students is very bright, is majoring in chemistry, and probably can have
a career in chemistry. Generally this student does not need the typical
lame excuse that other students sometimes try because he is academically
excellent and is typically going to be prepared for the exam. However, you
never know what will set him off. Maybe he'll walk in the room to take the
exam and the room is too cold. He'll get up and pace around for a while,
then he'll just get up and leave without taking the exam. Even if he
manages to tell us what has happened (the room is too cold), moving him to a
warmer room at that time will not work because he is too upset and needs
some "downtime" before he can take the exam. This might require a downtime
of an hour, or several hours. The behavior is sometimes bizarre, but it is
not faked.
However, this has all been taken care of through our ADA coordinator. We
are aware of the diagnosis; we are aware of the history, we are aware of the
types of things that can happen even though we don't always anticipate the
exact thing that happens; the parents are legally involved (but mostly stay
clear because they trust us)... so when things crop up, such as missing an
exam or walking out of an exam, we deal with it.
(3) It's possible to view FERPA and ADA as onerous red tape and regulations.
But it is also possible to view these and good laws that protect you as well
as the students. If you have a good ADA/FERPA coordinator, when a situation
arises with a student or parents, you refer them to the coordinator. If it
is determined that a disability exists and the student has special needs,
the coordinator helps you deal with it. If the disability/special-needs do
not exist and/or the parents do not have a legal right to be involved, you
can just tell them that, and then ignore them.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Physics
Bluffton University
1 University Drive
Bluffton, OH 45817
419.358.3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu