Today was a day to be remembered. Leisa McElreath started her reign as Cosmetology Board President. Come to find out, Leisa has borrowed an American flag for the Cosmetology Board room. She had all who was present to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I have no problem with this because I love my country. I just find it very confusing that Leisa has been on this Board for three years and has never once showed this patriotic side until becoming Board President. What this Board President could consider doing is to start each meeting with a Prayer and ask God to help to unite them and to guide them so that we may start seeing some progression in our Industry.
On to the Administrative Hearings…. These hearings are a result of the violations written by the inspectors. When a violation is written it is either resolved or the Board is required to have a Hearing to determine what action should be taken as a result of the written violation. In MOST cases there is a fine assessed for the violation. On this day, there were 20 individuals scheduled for hearings. Four were settled before the hearings started and only 1 person was actually present for the hearing. The Board went through all the cases set for the day and ended up assessing over $2,500.00 in fines
The Board also had on the agenda a few SHOW CAUSE HEARINGS…. A Show Cause Hearing is set because the Board has taken an action and the action is being called to question by the individual to which the action effects. In other words, the Board had denied individuals who completed the Cosmetology Program at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, which is the women’s prison located in Pearl, MS. The Board ruled to NOT allow certain individuals who trained at the prison because of their felony convictions. Each of the individuals that were denied all had life sentences for a MURDER conviction and one had life plus 40 years.
I forgot to mention that Dorothy Ennis was not present at this 7/21/2014 meeting. Mrs. Ennis was doing a New School Inspection on the coast…..
These individuals sent letters by their Instructor, Mrs. Cynthia Norwood, who has been the Cosmetology Instructor at the Prison for the past 5 1/2 years. Mrs. Norwood read each of the individual’s letter to the Board. That Board asked Mrs. Norwood a variety of questions. However, the majority of their questions pertained to the Salon at the prison.. where if these individuals were licensed could they work, but Mrs. Norwood was unable to answer as she stated she did not work in the Salon. I recall Vice-President Teresa Whitman asking if there were security cameras in the Salon…. Ms. Whitman then stated that the reason she was asking so many questions was because she had never been there and she needed to be sure that if she voted yes for these individuals to have the opportunity to became licensed Cosmetologist and happen to murder again while in the salon, that would be on her conscious ……..Prior to the Board going into Executive Session to deliberate it’s decision Board President Leisa McElreath stated that she wanted everyone to remember that the Governor can pardon any one and it would be nice for them to have something to do if that happened.. I was looking like a fool while thinking why did Leisa just say that????
Well, the Board then went into Executive Session to deliberate. I am sitting outside thinking about what just happened and know that the Board made the right decision of denying these individuals the opportunity to test. I’m also thinking about the Board’s Rule 2.7 G. Each first time applicant for licensure shall show by way of affidavit that they are of “good moral character”, which shall be established by an absence of a felony convictions or misdemeanor convictions involving moral turpitude. This same statement is also repeated again in Rule 2.12 A 8. Well guess what… when the Board came out of Executive Session the Board attorney Jeff Jernigan stated the Board had changed it’s position on this issue and has decided to allow these individuals to test. I could not believe this! I asked the attorney if it was a unanimous voted and he stated that I would have to wait for a copy of the Board Minutes to find out who voted what….. I told him that I was still waiting on Board Minutes from March!!!!!!!!! Well I got my answer as to why Leisa made such a statement about the whole pardon thing. She was telling Teresa and Shelly how to vote… Wait and see what the minutes reflect on this vote…. BET YOU I’M RIGHT……
The Board posted notice to hold a Special Call Meeting later today…. SPECIAL CALL MEETING WAS CALLED TO DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING: BUDGET, PERSONNEL, CONFERENCE (NIC), AND SCHOOL INSPECTION….
If you are have trouble reading the notice just double click and it will it enlarge for you……
5 Comment(s)
This Board is like watching the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”….it’s pathetic and never addresses the REAL issues that the students and grads are facing, i.e., why it’s taking months to get their permits when they to go to work ASAP to support themselves and children, why it’s taking months to receive their letter to allow them to test, why it’s taking months to process renewal and duplicate licenses, and why in the world all the paperwork sent to them gets lost??? We now send EVERYTHING certified mail, return receipt requested so we can prove that it was sent and received. And how in the heck did this Leisa woman, who has NEVER worked in a school get to be president???? Neither she nor Kay have a clue…..I am disgusted and amazed at their superior attitudes and ignorance of this industry. And I will soon be letting them know that THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING FOR US, NOT AGAINST. They wouldn’t even have jobs if not for the schools and graduates …..I am through with being silent about legitimate and life changing complaints.
It is amazing how some can bend the rules to SATISFY OTHERS…. OR THEMSELVES…. OR IF THEY FEEL THREATENED! JUST AMAZING!!! A great show of bipartisanship! And Moral Turpitude? Can anybody tell us what that means? (Wikipedia can)………. AMEN on the prayer! Oh, and Melvin, I bet you are correct about the vote….. Mother duck followed by ducklings! I encourage everyone to come watch this Board in action… and bring your camcorder! It IS an open meeting!
Amen, Amen and Amen.
yes, we are still waiting on march 2014 minutes.. what happened in march, 2014, for them to go from february 24, 2014 to April 13, 2014. Board have all of these rules that they want us to follow, but they play a childrens game duck, duck, goose. You know what goes around, comes around, so just watch and see what happens.
i have a head ache from all this… all this makes me want to change my career choice… ugh.