Monday January 25, 2016 Regular Board Meeting

All Board members were present for this Board meeting…  The Board set several dates for hearings to try to reduce the large back log of citations that still needs to be addressed…  Remember most of these hearing are from when the PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION was changing rules on garbage cans and everyone in the state was being written up for rules that no one was aware had be changed!!!!!

Board Attorney Jeff Jernigan presented to the Board a revised violation form for the inspectors to use..  I will try to obtain a copy of this form and post  it on my blog for all to see…

The Board also adopted a new policy that gives guidance on how to handle when a Board employee seeks additional employment…..  The “REAL TALK” is this policy deals with Inspectors that work or own a shop in the area that they INSPECT…..

At todays meeting, I was on the agenda to talk with the Board once again about POSTSECONDARY LICENSURE!!!!!  I found out in 2013 U.S. Department of Education had listed Mississippi as a PROBLEMATIC state!!!!  Meaning that the PREVIOUS ADMINISTATION had never submitted to the Department of Education any documented proof of LAWS, RULES and POLICIES that would verify to the USDE the that Mississippi State Board of Cosmetology had the authority to grant a school the recognition of being an institution of Postsecondary Education….   On January 21, 2015, I arranged a telephone conference with following individuals…..  Christopher Miller, USDE, Vanessa Dillard, USDE, Sherry Blackmon USDE, David Derrick, MSBC, Sondra Clark, Board of Barber Examiners….  During this telephone conference the USDE made it very clear that the LAWS, RULES, and POLICIES needed to be submitted ASAP…  They further stated that they did not care who submitted the document,  but the MUST be submitted and that all information submitted must also provide verifiable proof of their validity… On January 2, 2016 I submitted to USDE the LAWS, RULES, and POLICIES that should prove that the MSBC has the authority to grant a school the recognition of being an institution of Postsecondary Education…. The USDE did state that once the documents were submitted the documents would be sent before a peer committee for final approval.  So now we a waiting for the USDE’s response….  The scary thing about all this is that since the state of Mississippi has been deemed PROBLEMATIC  by the USDE, all schools receiving TITLE IV in the state of Mississippi have been place on HOLD since July 2015…   Which means if your Participation Agreement with USDE is up for renewal it has not been renewed, you are currently on a month to month agreement….  It also means those schools in the state of Mississippi can NOT get ANY approval to alter their Participation Agreements after July 2015….  Examples:   NO change of location, No change of ownership, No adding a program, No adding a branch campus….  YES THIS IS SERIOUS!!!!!!!

The Board has also adopted a new sign in sheet for monitoring your continuing education hours..  This sheet is BLUE…   Please make sure that you know your registration number….  You can no longer provide your social security number….If you do not know  your registration number you will not be getting credit for your hours!!!!!!

Mr. Derrick informed the Board that the School Coordinators position would be re-opened for taking applications January 24, 2016 – January 31, 2016…..  

Board Member Dorothy Ennis stated that since the Board had been receiving more request for the Board to monitor out of state shows her suggestion was to require them to reimburse the Board’s expenses…  Board attorney stated that he did not feel comfortable creating a policy that discriminated against out of state show… He suggested to the Board that if there was a policy that stated if a Board member was required to stay over night for any show then those fees would have to be reimbursed…  Board member Dorothy Ennis ask for Board attorney Jeff Jernigan and Executive Director David Derrick to work together to adopted a policy for reimbursement of expenses to monitor out of state shows.

Executive David Derrick informed the Board on the upcoming PSC workshop…   Saturday and Sunday February 27th & 28th will be Evaluator Training Classes and Monday February 29, 2016 will be Mississippi Exam Overview for the School & Instructors to attend….  This is to be at the Hilton Garden Inn, Pearl Ms…..   The Board of Cosmetology plans to attend all 3 days!!!