Flexible attendance is appropriate for students with chronic physical or behavioral health conditions who experience brief, acute episodes that impact course attendance and assignments on occasion. The accommodation builds in a limited amount of flexibility to address the impact of random, periodic health flares that interfere with course activities. The accommodation is not appropriate to comprehensively address or fully support ongoing absences or the inability to participate for extended periods.
Students who need to request this accommodation should communicate with their Accommodations Specialist.
Flexible Attendance Guidelines
Attendance is an essential component of postsecondary education and students are expected to comply with class attendance policies. However, when the nature of a student’s disability includes symptoms which could exacerbate unexpectedly and/or require medical intervention, a reasonable modification to the class attendance policy, and also the ability to make-up work, quizzes, or exams in the event of a disability-related absence, may be provided as an accommodation.
While the accommodation provides a reasonable modification to the course attendance policy, it is not an attendance waiver and therefore does not cover excessive or habitual absences, or negate the attendance and participation requirements of the course. The student remains responsible for fulfilling the essential requirements of the course. Instructors are not expected to compromise essential course requirements or fundamentally alter courses, regardless of a student’s disability.
What are the expectations for students using this accommodation?
Use of this accommodation requires prompt and collaborative communication between the student, the instructor, and ODS.
The student should schedule a meeting (face-to-face or virtual) with each instructor to discuss how accommodations will be provided. The objectives of this meeting are for the student to gain an understanding of the reasonable modification that can be provided, and of the expectations and arrangements for making up missed work in a timely manner.
This accommodation is not intended to be used for more than 25% of class meetings, and is not meant to automatically apply to every exam or assignment. Absences and make-up exams or assignments should only be used as needed for disability-related flares.
If you must miss class, an exam, or an assignment for disability-related reasons, ODS recommends the accommodation be implemented as follows:
- Absences – twice the number of absences permitted for other students
- Missed exams – make up within 1 week. This accommodation is not intended to automatically apply to every exam, nor does it offer unlimited rescheduling of a make-up exam. When scheduling a make-up exam at ODS, select “make-up exam” as the accommodation you are requesting. The deferred final should be used to make-up a final exam.
- Missed assignments – submit within 48 hours
Instructors who wish to seek more stringent parameters than those listed above are expected to complete the Class Instruction Form (available in the ODS Online Portal) and discuss it with ODS.
Accommodations related to attendance are not retroactive. Like other accommodations, they become effective after the student sends an accommodation letter to the instructor and discussed the accommodation.
As the student needs to use the attendance accommodation, the student should:
- Email the instructor as soon as possible to state they are using a disability-related absence and initiate arrangements for making up any missed work. If missing multiple classes, the student will need to email each instructor. Students are not required to disclose confidential information to their instructors, but can simply state “I need to use a disability-related absence from class today” or “I need to miss class today due to my disability.”
- Copy (CC) their Accommodations Specialist on email communications to the instructor(s). Students are responsible for notifying ODS of the use of this accommodation in addition to notifying instructors.
- Failure to follow these steps may result in an unexcused absence in the course.
