Moraine Park Technical College is committed to creating and maintaining a community where all individuals enjoy freedom from discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of sex, as mandated by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX). Sex discrimination, which can include discrimination based on pregnancy, marital status, or parental status, is prohibited and illegal in admissions, educational programs and activities, hiring, leave policies, employment policies, and health insurance coverage. Moraine Park Technical College hereby establishes a policy and associated procedures for ensuring the protection and equal treatment of pregnant individuals, persons with pregnancy related conditions, and new parents.
1) Under the Department of Education’s (DOE) Title IX regulations, an institution that receives federal funding “shall not discriminate against any student, or exclude any student from its education program or activity, including any class or extracurricular activity, on the basis of such student’s pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, or recovery therefrom.” According to the DOE, appropriate treatment of a pregnant student includes granting the student leave “for so long a period of time as is deemed medically necessary by the student’s physician,” and then effectively reinstating the student to the same status as was held when the leave began.
2) This generally means that pregnant students at Moraine Park Technical College will be given an opportunity to make up missed work wherever possible. Extended deadlines, make-up assignments (e.g., papers, quizzes, tests, and presentations), tutoring, independent study, online course completion options, and incomplete grades that can be completed at a later date, should all be employed, in addition to any other ergonomic and assistive supports typically provided by Disability Resources. To the extent possible, Moraine Park Technical College will take reasonable steps to ensure that pregnant students who take a leave of absence or medical leave return to the same position of academic progress that they were in when they took leave, including access to the same course catalog that was in place when the leave began. The Director of Student Development/Title IX Coordinator has the authority to determine that such adjustments are necessary and appropriate, and to inform instructors of the need to adjust academic parameters accordingly.
3) Information about pregnant students’ requests for adjustments will be shared with instructors and employees only to the extent necessary to provide the reasonable adjustment. Instructors and employees will regard all information associated with such requests as private and will not disclose this information unless necessary. Administrative responsibility for these adjustments lies with the Director of Student Development/Title IX Coordinator, who will maintain all appropriate documentation related to requested and approved adjustments.
4) In situations such as clinical rotations, performances, labs, and group work, the institution will work with the student to devise an alternative path to completion, if possible. In progressive curricular and/or cohort-model programs, medically necessary leaves are sufficient cause to permit the student to shift course order, substitute similar courses, or join a subsequent cohort when returning from leave.
5) Students are encouraged to work with their instructors and Moraine Park Technical College’s support systems to devise a plan for how to best address the conditions as pregnancy progresses, anticipate the need for leaves, minimize the academic impact of their absence, and get back on track as efficiently and comfortably as possible. The Director of Student Development/Title IX Coordinator may assist with plan development and implementation as needed.