Overturning a grade is it possible?

Professor X, MSN, RN · Oct 15, 2019

PLEASE PLEASE stop saying "the instructor failed me." YOU failed, not the instructor. The instructor had nothing to do with your lateness and your cel phone use and your interactions with patients.

If you had known, in November, that it was a group decision whether you passed or failed based on your actions, would that have changed your decision to stay in the program? If you say that knowing it was a group decision would have made you drop out early, then you have nothing to grieve. Maybe you lost the opportunity to enroll in another program but that is not reason to overturn your grade. They are not going to give you a passing grade to make up for the inconvenience of lost time.

It really doesn't matter about the 10 weeks. You could have started the grieving process immediately and it wouldn't change things. There is no way your grade would be overturned at any point.

Professor X, MSN, RN · Oct 15, 2019

On 10/12/2019 at 6:57 PM, Kooky Korky said:
I think it is best for you to go to school elsewhere.
However, I think you should engage a lawyer and sue the living daylights out of the school, Instructor, and the Director because they have treated you in a ridiculous way - like taking so long to reply to your original grievance and now saying you are too late. Should you win, your reward will be monetary and an apology from each of these evil beings. Yes, they might be able to retaliate, so consider forgoing a lawsuit. Talk with at least 3 lawyers in your state to get a feel for how a lawsuit might play out.
If you go to school again, you had better toe the line 100000000%. Communicate totally, clearly, and with witnesses present whenever possible. Leave that phone far away from the school and from Clinicals. Have no conversations with anyone about vasectomies or other personal matters in front of patients. Etc. If you have a medical need, make it known right from the start and get it in writing that you have permission from the Director or Dean or whoever to sit down for a few minutes when needed. Perhaps a lawsuit for discriminating against you in this regard is possible against the school and Director and Instructor from your first school.
Don't try to take on an Instructor. You will lose. They hold the power of life and death over your academic success, as you have learned.
Do you still want to be a nurse? You will encounter plenty of similar #^$&**! in the world of work as a nurse. Not that it doesn't happen elsewhere, but there are so many gossips and pot stirrers in the ranks of nurses. At least, that has been my experience.
Good luck.

I can't be sure here...I read this over and over to see if you were being sarcastic or what...but let me be clear: there is no legal case, there was no discrimination, there will be no monetary reward, no one was evil, no one will be punished for being mean to the lil student. Life and the legal system does not work like that.

Also, YOU have the power of academic success. Not your instructor. The instructor has pass/fail guidelines that he or she will use in determining your grade. Whether you live up to those guidelines is up to you.

angel0309, ADN, RN · Oct 15, 2019

On 10/12/2019 at 9:57 PM, Kooky Korky said:
I think it is best for you to go to school elsewhere.
However, I think you should engage a lawyer and sue the living daylights out of the school, Instructor, and the Director because they have treated you in a ridiculous way - like taking so long to reply to your original grievance and now saying you are too late. Should you win, your reward will be monetary and an apology from each of these evil beings. Yes, they might be able to retaliate, so consider forgoing a lawsuit. Talk with at least 3 lawyers in your state to get a feel for how a lawsuit might play out.
If you go to school again, you had better toe the line 100000000%. Communicate totally, clearly, and with witnesses present whenever possible. Leave that phone far away from the school and from Clinicals. Have no conversations with anyone about vasectomies or other personal matters in front of patients. Etc. If you have a medical need, make it known right from the start and get it in writing that you have permission from the Director or Dean or whoever to sit down for a few minutes when needed. Perhaps a lawsuit for discriminating against you in this regard is possible against the school and Director and Instructor from your first school.
Don't try to take on an Instructor. You will lose. They hold the power of life and death over your academic success, as you have learned.
Do you still want to be a nurse? You will encounter plenty of similar #^$&**! in the world of work as a nurse. Not that it doesn't happen elsewhere, but there are so many gossips and pot stirrers in the ranks of nurses. At least, that has been my experience.
Good luck.

I really, really, really, really hope this is sarcasm

Misscruella · Oct 15, 2019

1 minute ago, angel0309 said:
I really, really, really, really hope this is sarcasm

I don’t think this person is being sarcastic. It is pretty ridiculous that for the school to give a reason why they cannot overturn my grade is because too much time has passed...when the grievance process took too long to complete which is out of my control.it is up to the school how long that process takes and whoever is involved with the grievance. I even spoke to the registrar of the school today and they said that my grade can be overturned at any point as long as I filed the grievance within 30 days.

Did I make mistakes during the program? Yes. But our instructor explained to our group that people have things come up and she explained it is ok if you are late if there is an emergency or if you have a good explanation, talk to me and I will be reasonable. So other students were late and I did not see them yelled at. But I was late and was yelled at by my instructor, because she was angry with me for getting her in trouble. I had explanations that would have satisfied her but she chose to ignore them because she seemingly wanted to get me in trouble until it was toward the end of the semester and I kissed her ***, then she wanted to pass me. This doesn’t erase the fact that I was late and I get that but I believe it discredits the instructor. If she is going to write me up for things and not other students that is not fair and if other students are allowed to pass them I should too! She proceeded to write me up for things that I am questioning were even right to do. It was also explained to us as a group that our instructors determine our grade in clinical. I was told I had a chance to pass by my instructor and the director of the program mid semester. Then at the end, and after me exceeding the expectations of the instructor and kissing her *** (and being told by my instructor I would pass) I was told by the director I would not be passing and that it is a team decision who passes. How is that fair? Yes I could have dropped out and used my time more wisely to do other things if I had known I would be failed regardless of my performance from then on. But not only that! I would not have this F on my transcript if I had made the decision to drop out.

IF I ask the director AND the instructor “I have a warning from you but do I still have a chance of passing this class?” And they say “yes absolutely “ and I’m told I would pass by my instructor in the end, and she wants the faculty to pass me but they still don’t pass me , that’s not fair and yes i should have been told “because you have received a warning there is a chance you will not pass regardless of your performance from here on” . I may have dropped out if I was told that, absolutely.

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 16, 2019

2 hours ago, Misscruella said:
So other students were late and I did not see them yelled at.

What happens with other students is not your concern. You don't know what may have happened in private meetings.

2 hours ago, Misscruella said:
I had explanations that would have satisfied her but she chose to ignore them because she seemingly wanted to get me in trouble until it was toward the end of the semester and I kissed her ***, then she wanted to pass me. This doesn’t erase the fact that I was late and I get that but I believe it discredits the instructor. If she is going to write me up for things and not other students that is not fair and if other students are allowed to pass them I should too! She proceeded to write me up for things that I am questioning were even right to do.

What I see here is excuses and not admitting that your actions led to what happened and the sole responsibility for your actions rests on you. Again, leave other students out of it. You can't go appeal on grounds that nothing happened to other students because you have no right to know private details of what disciplinary actions/performance improvement plans others have received.

2 hours ago, Misscruella said:
I was told I had a chance to pass by my instructor and the director of the program mid semester.

A chance is not a guarantee.

OP, you have 2 options:

1. Continue to dwell on this, let it become your focus in life, try to sue (you won't be successful if you even get in front of a judge), and be miserable

OR

2. Move on with your life, and learn a lesson from this to always, always, always follow the rules to the letter and never assume that because you've been told you have a chance at something that it will come to fruition. Your program was more than lenient with you to begin with. It's time to take another path.

Misscruella · Oct 16, 2019

16 minutes ago, Rose_Queen said:
What happens with other students is not your concern. You don't know what may have happened in private meetings.
What I see here is excuses and not admitting that your actions led to what happened and the sole responsibility for your actions rests on you. Again, leave other students out of it. You can't go appeal on grounds that nothing happened to other students because you have no right to know private details of what disciplinary actions/performance improvement plans others have received.
A chance is not a guarantee.
OP, you have 2 options:
1. Continue to dwell on this, let it become your focus in life, try to sue (you won't be successful if you even get in front of a judge), and be miserable
OR
2. Move on with your life, and learn a lesson from this to always, always, always follow the rules to the letter and never assume that because you've been told you have a chance at something that it will come to fruition. Your program was more than lenient with you to begin with. It's time to take another path.

It is my business when other students are clearly being treated differently than me. If you are yelled at for being late, and another student is not, wouldn’t you get the idea that an instructor doesn’t like you? And then you find out that while you did make mistakes, so did many other people in the program and they were passed. Would you not feel outrage? And it is my business I believe if I do file a suit and find out that these students were not disciplined at all, which is what I suspect. I don’t know if a lawyer will be able to find that information out though. Even if I don’t look at how other students were treated differently my instructor told us we would not be penalized for being late if we had a good excuse for being late for which I did. I was late twice out of the whole semester. The other things she wrote me up for could be argued against and I did but she did not want to hear it. If you read my post again you will see I admit to making mistakes such as being late but you are saying I take no responsibility. Why am I continuing to dwell on this? Because other nursing programs do not want to see an F from a previous nursing program so it is hard to move on with my life as you suggest.

RNNPICU, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2019

OP you may feel your execuses for being later were good, but your instructor and school may have felt differently. A lawyer would not be able to get the information from other students because their files could not be released due to privacy rules. All nursing students make mistakes because you are learning. Some mistakes are much greater than others. Especially if patients and/or their families complain. Additionally, there may have been observations from other hospital staff that reported things to your clinical instructor and school.

What or how other students did or did not do doesn't have any factor in your case. You do need to take ownsership for your actions. What could possibly make you late for clinical twice? Did someone die in your family? Did you have a cave in on your house? Those I think would be good explainations. Other student's excuses could have likely been addressed privately and you only know one side.

I am sorry you are going through this. Unfortunately I do not see any recourse. I think you would spend more money and time trying to fight something when you could use that same energy into looking into a different program.

**CommunityRNBSN, BSN, RN** · Oct 16, 2019

What exactly would a lawyer do? In this country we have “protected classes.” Meaning— if you were claiming that “the school failed me and not the others because I am [a veteran and the other students aren’t], [female and the other students are male], [Asian and the other students are Latino]” then you might have a case. Other than that— no, a lawyer will not be able to help you. “They failed me because they didn’t like me” is a real bummer, but it’s not illegal.

Misscruella · Oct 16, 2019

7 minutes ago, RNNPICU said:
OP you may feel your execuses for being later were good, but your instructor and school may have felt differently. A lawyer would not be able to get the information from other students because their files could not be released due to privacy rules. All nursing students make mistakes because you are learning. Some mistakes are much greater than others. Especially if patients and/or their families complain. Additionally, there may have been observations from other hospital staff that reported things to your clinical instructor and school.
What or how other students did or did not do doesn't have any factor in your case. You do need to take ownsership for your actions. What could possibly make you late for clinical twice? Did someone die in your family? Did you have a cave in on your house? Those I think would be good explainations. Other student's excuses could have likely been addressed privately and you only know one side.
I am sorry you are going through this. Unfortunately I do not see any recourse. I think you would spend more money and time trying to fight something when you could use that same energy into looking into a different program.

I was late once because no one notified of me of a time change to the clinical hours. I spoke to the dean of the academic affairs and they told me I should have been notified in an email. The second time I was coming back from a doctors appointment in the city and there was heavy traffic that day. I really had no idea that it would take that long to get back from the doctors appointment because I never drove into the city but I needed to see the doctor because of my health problems I was dealing with. I saw another student that was late because she got a flat tire and two other students were late because they were finishing up working on assignments. I don’t know why people are telling me that other people’s circumstances don’t affect mine. I was told by the dean himself that if the teacher is allowing other students leeway and not me that this is unfair to me and I have grounds for an appeal for my grade based on this.

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2019

On 10/14/2019 at 4:16 PM, Horseshoe said:
You "have a chance at passing" is not a guarantee. You threw the dice by staying in the course and it did not go your way.
The only thing I see here that seems fishy is saying you are past the deadline for appeal when the delay was apparently on their end. Can you advance this up the chain or has the top of the hierarchy already ruled against you?

Someone hired whoever ruled against her. Someone signs the top banana's paycheck.

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Oct 20, 2019

On 10/15/2019 at 9:08 PM, Misscruella said:
I was late once because no one notified of me of a time change to the clinical hours. I spoke to the dean of the academic affairs and they told me I should have been notified in an email. The second time I was coming back from a doctors appointment in the city and there was heavy traffic that day. I really had no idea that it would take that long to get back from the doctors appointment because I never drove into the city but I needed to see the doctor because of my health problems I was dealing with. I saw another student that was late because she got a flat tire and two other students were late because they were finishing up working on assignments. I don’t know why people are telling me that other people’s circumstances don’t affect mine. I was told by the dean himself that if the teacher is allowing other students leeway and not me that this is unfair to me and I have grounds for an appeal for my grade based on this.

You should have scheduled your appointment for some other day. You should have figured out the drive time, too, and allowed lots of extra time. This tardy was not the school's fault.

The not notifying you of a time change - I'd hold their feet to the fire about that. Of course, they can find out if the message was sent to you. So be absolutely certain that you didn't get it. Check with your service provider before you swear you didn't get it.

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Oct 20, 2019

On 10/15/2019 at 5:29 PM, Misscruella said:
I don’t think this person is being sarcastic. It is pretty ridiculous that for the school to give a reason why they cannot overturn my grade is because too much time has passed...when the grievance process took too long to complete which is out of my control.it is up to the school how long that process takes and whoever is involved with the grievance. I even spoke to the registrar of the school today and they said that my grade can be overturned at any point as long as I filed the grievance within 30 days.
Did I make mistakes during the program? Yes. But our instructor explained to our group that people have things come up and she explained it is ok if you are late if there is an emergency or if you have a good explanation, talk to me and I will be reasonable. So other students were late and I did not see them yelled at. But I was late and was yelled at by my instructor, because she was angry with me for getting her in trouble. I had explanations that would have satisfied her but she chose to ignore them because she seemingly wanted to get me in trouble until it was toward the end of the semester and I kissed her ***, then she wanted to pass me. This doesn’t erase the fact that I was late and I get that but I believe it discredits the instructor. If she is going to write me up for things and not other students that is not fair and if other students are allowed to pass them I should too! She proceeded to write me up for things that I am questioning were even right to do. It was also explained to us as a group that our instructors determine our grade in clinical. I was told I had a chance to pass by my instructor and the director of the program mid semester. Then at the end, and after me exceeding the expectations of the instructor and kissing her *** (and being told by my instructor I would pass) I was told by the director I would not be passing and that it is a team decision who passes. How is that fair? Yes I could have dropped out and used my time more wisely to do other things if I had known I would be failed regardless of my performance from then on. But not only that! I would not have this F on my transcript if I had made the decision to drop out.
IF I ask the director AND the instructor “I have a warning from you but do I still have a chance of passing this class?” And they say “yes absolutely “ and I’m told I would pass by my instructor in the end, and she wants the faculty to pass me but they still don’t pass me , that’s not fair and yes i should have been told “because you have received a warning there is a chance you will not pass regardless of your performance from here on” . I may have dropped out if I was told that, absolutely.

Did the Instructor tell you that you WOULD pass? Or that you Could pass? These are not the same. Could = Might Would = will