Urgent: Program is losing 60+ of my hours due to supervisor negligence (No contract, no observations). What are my rights?
I am so stressed out and feel like I don't know where to turn.
I’ve been working my tail off for my 3-credit Spring practicum, but my supervisor/professor has been completely negligent.
The Issues:
• No Contract: I wasn't even given a supervision contract until April 8th, and she sent it unsigned. I know per the BACB Handbook that hours shouldn't accrue without a signed contract.
• Missed Observations: She failed to conduct the mandatory 90-minute observation for April. This effectively invalidates my March and April hours (approx. 63 hours total).
• Stalling/Ghosting: The program director told me 8 days ago he would "rectify" it, but I’ve heard nothing. The professor scheduled an "emergency" observation today to fix things but then never showed up and hasn't texted back.
• Financials: I paid for 3 credits this semester, and because of their failure to follow BACB standards, I currently have 0 valid hours to show for it.
The "Plan":
The professor verbally told me she’d give me an "Incomplete" and let me work through August for "free" to make up the hours, but the Director won't put that in writing. Plus, that doesn't fix the fact that I had no practicum site until April but they never came in to observe in April so March/April hours are technically dead.
Questions for the community:
- Has anyone successfully fought a university to get a tuition credit or refund for failed supervision?
- If the BACB audits me later, how "screwed" am I if I try to count these hours even though the observation was missed?
- Should I report this to the BACB ethics board now, or wait until the Dean responds?
- Since there are only two people in the entire ABA program here, how do I escalate without them retaliating against my grades?
What do I do???