Student's request to enroll in nursing class denied

A state district judge has denied a request from a Montana State University-Northern nursing student that she be allowed to enroll in a class despite a failing grade in a prerequisite for the class.

Student Wanda Lee Scott had asked Judge David Rice to issue a temporary restraining order allowing her to attend the class. She withdrew a request asking Rice to review her failing grade after Rice declined to issue the restraining order.

In a complaint filed in court Feb. 4, Scott asked Rice to rule that she should be allowed to attend Nursing 136 while Rice determined whether her instructor should have given her a failing grade. Students are required to pass Nursing 128 before they can take Nursing 136.

Scott and her attorney, Carl White, could not be reached for comment.

Scott's complaint said her instructor in Nursing 128, Mary McGuire, inaccurately graded a 100-point test Scott took and graded it differently than McGuire graded other students' tests. The complaint said McGuire refused to correct the grade and would not allow Scott to review other tests to see if they were accurately graded, the complaint said. The complaint also said McGuire did not allow Scott to make up a required clinical evaluation that Scott had not completed.

The complaint said Scott appealed the grade to Mary Pappas, director of nursing at Northern, then to Provost Cheri Jimeno.

McGuire did not return phone calls seeking comment. Pappas said in an interview that while Scott did talk to her and the faculty about the grade, Scott did not file a formal complaint.

Rice said in his decision that Scott had not presented proof that the university was denying her rights by keeping her out of the class.