LTC Policy & Procedure Manual: Introduction & General Provisions

The policies of Lanier Technical College are determined by its governing body, the State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia (SBTCSG). This Manual provides hyperlinks to SBTCSG policy and the text of procedures developed by Lanier Technical College to operationalize State Board policy.

Policy and Procedure Elements

Policy and procedure templates include the following items:

Approved: The date on which the procedure was approved by the college.
Modified: All dates on which the policy or procedure was modified.
Supercedes: The title of any policies or procedures that are superceded by the current document.
Scope: A statement of when and to whom the policy or procedure applies. If a scope statement is absent, the policy applies to all faculty, staff, and students, at all times.
Contact: The title of the staff member to be contacted with questions about the policy or procedure.
Owner: The title of the staff member who has authority to modify or delete the policy or procedure. Often, "contact" and "owner" will be the same individual. In such cases, only "contact" will be listed.
References: Hyperlinks to any SBTCSG policies, accreditation requirements or standards, or state or federal laws that the policy references or applies to. If the documents are not readily accessible via a web browser, the document title may be provided without a hyperlink.
Forms: Hyperlinks to any forms or documents needed in order to follow the policy or procedure. If the documents are not accessible via a web browser, the document title may be provided without a hyperlink.

Definitions

As used in this Policy & Procedure Manual, the term:

"Policy" means a local campus policy for Lanier Technical College. Such policies are implementations of policies set by the State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia, which is Lanier Technical College's governing body.
"As soon as possible" means within a reasonable time, having due regard for all the circumstances.
"LTC" means Lanier Technical College.
"the College" or "the college" means Lanier Technical College.
"TCSG" means the Technical College System of Georgia.
"Department" means the Technical College System of Georgia including the Technical Colleges.
"SBTCSG" means the State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia.
"State Board" means the State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia.
"The State Board of Technical and Adult Education" and "SBTAE" mean the State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia. (This term is obsolete.)
"President" means the President of Lanier Technical College.

General Provisions

In all interpretations of policies, the reader shall look diligently for the intention of LTC administration, keeping in view at all times the administration's express intention to comply with all state and federal laws, and all TCSG policies. When there is a conflict between LTC or TCSG policy and state or federal law, the law shall prevail.

When there exists a conflict between policies and procedures published in this manual and other versions published elsewhere, the version in this manual shall take precedence, with the following exception: policies and procedures published in the Lanier Technical College Catalog and Student Handbook shall take precedence over those published in this manual. Policies published in the TCSG policy manual will take precedence over those published in the LTC manual. Users noting such conflicts are asked to call them to the attention of the LTC Policy Coordinator.

Some academic programs have program specific Policy Manuals. Program Policy Manuals take precedence over the LTC Policy & Procedure Manual, but do not take precedence over the TCSG Policy Manual or over state or federal law.

The masculine gender includes the feminine and the neuter.

The present or past tense includes the future.

Grammatical errors shall not vitiate a policy. A transposition of words and clauses may be resorted to when a sentence or clause is without meaning as written.

Substantial compliance with any policy requirement shall be deemed and held sufficient, and no proceeding shall be declared void for lack of strict compliance, unless expressly so provided by law or policy.

Each policy and procedure is administratively assigned to a staff member of LTC, listed as the "Owner" on the policy or procedure, or as the "Contact" if no owner is specified. It is the responsibility of the designated staff member to ensure that policies and procedures under his or her jurisdiction are reviewed at least annually and maintained in a manner that is clear, concise, current, and consistent with federal and state laws. The designated staff member is also responsible for proposing new policies and procedures whenever the need arises.

Non-applicable or obsolete items may be deleted when a new policy or procedure is added to the manual.

Submission, Approval, and Corrections of Policies and Procedures

Members of the Leadership Team may submit new or revised policies and procedures for inclusion in the LTC Policy & Procedure Manual.

For New Policies:

The policy owner forwards the text to the policy coordinator.
The policy coordinator puts the policy in standardized format.
At the owner's direction, the policy coordinator either:
1. Prepares paper copies of the policy for presentation by the owner to the Leadership Team, or
2. Distributes the policy by email for electronic vote.
If the policy is rejected, no further action will be taken.
If the Leadership Team requests changes, the policy owner may revise the document and resubmit to the policy coordinator, at which point the policy will follow the steps above.
If the policy is approved, the policy owner delivers the document to the policy coordinator. The policy coordinator places the policy in the Manual, updates the Change Log, and notifies the owner when these actions have been completed.
The policy owner directs the Webmaster to add the new policy to the website in appropriate locations, and notifies all affected stakeholders of the new policy.

For Revised Policies:

The process for revised policies is the same as above, except that the text initially forwarded to the policy coordinator should display new or changed material in red text, and deleted material should be shown in a a strike-through font.

For New and Revised Procedures:

The policy owner forwards the procedure to the policy coordinator. (For revisions, added/changed text should be shown in red, and deleted text should be shown in a strike-through font.)
The policy coordinator formats the new or revised material and updates the Manual and Change Log.
The policy coordinator notifies the owner when these changes have been made.
The policy owner directs the Webmaster to make all needed changes on the website, and notifies all affected stakeholders of the new or revised procedure.

Corrections

Whenever substantive or typographical errors are found, the reader is encouraged to report the error to the owner or contact.

It is the responsibility of the owner or contact for that policy or procedure to determine if an error exists and, if so, to obtain the necessary approvals to correct any error as soon as possible.

The Policy Coordinator shall make a record of all changes to the Policy Manual in its Change Log, noting the date of the change, a brief description of the change, and the authority on which the change was made.