Monday June 2, 2014…. Board Meeting

OH BOY WAS THIS A MEETING!!!!!! 

Representatives from the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility were present to have a meeting with the Board to discuss why the Board had rejected the last three graduates applications for examination….   The Board made their position very clear that in some cases convicted felons would not be granted the right to obtain a Cosmetology License.  The Board further directed, Cynthia Norwood, Cosmetology Instructor for the Cosmetology program, that she would need the Board’s approval on all applicants prior to enrolling them into the Cosmetology Program at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

TENS of THOUSANDS of State Tax dollars are pumped into this program every year… We pay for the equipment, supplies, and the salaries!  We even pay the examination fee for testing and then we pay for the first set of license…..  However, our Tax dollars do not pay for any license renewals so guess what that means…. less than 5% of the of the individuals who complete the program and become licensed, never renew them! No one even knows how many actually start the program but end up getting transferred to another facility and never complete.  I just do not see this as a good return on our tax dollars!!!!!!

Next order of business was that Stephanie Boone-Owens, School Coordinator, presenting her findings from her visit to Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale, MS….WOW they are basically requiring their students to attend 1800 hours in order to be considered a graduate of their cosmetology program.  That is just the tip of the ice burg of the problems with that school…. And I will say no more…..

Next order of business is the Executive Director’s Report by Cynthia Johnson.  Mrs. Johnson talked about House Bill 1463 which deals with the Boards annual budget.  The Board’s increased budget request was denied….  President Kay Whitman stated that she happened to have the names of the individuals who voted against their proposed budget increase.  Kay further stated that Representative Young suggested that the Board write to each of them, who voted against the budget increase to see if the Board could find out if there were any thing in particular as to why they did not vote for the budget increase……  Sending out letters from the Board to Senators and Representatives is NOT something this Board has any business doing!and Dot and Waylon made if perfectly clear they wanted no part of this….  We all still remember what happened the last time the Board sent a letter out to the Capital…..  WE SOON HAD NO BOARD!!!!!!!!!  With all this being said, Kay asked for a motion to write the letter. Leisa made the motion, Shelly seconded it, Waylon and Dot said No, and Kay voted with Shelly and Leisa….  Excuse my language but THIS SHIT IS GETTING OLD!!!!!  I have never seen any one Board President make so many deciding votes…   Oh and this President, Kay Whitman who has cast a record breaking amount of deciding votes, also thinks that postage is charged by the destination of the letter… Yes, she thought the same letter would cost more or less depending on where it was sent in Mississippi!

The next heated topic was the complaint which came from the Lieutenant  Governor’s office…  It appears that a lady, probably in her mid to late 50’s who has a salon in a rural  part of the state, was told by her inspector that she needed to post the current sanitation rules and regulations.  This lady was told that she would need to go to the Cosmetology Board website and print them out.  The lady called the Board office to see if they would send her a copy of the new Sanitation Rules however, the Board office told the lady she must go on the website and print a copy.  The lady explained to the Board office that she did not have a computer nor did she have internet access in her area.  The Board office told her that they could not help her and that they did not have the authority to send any one a copy of the sanitation rules in the mail.  The lady then ask to speak to some one in charge and the lady left several messages for Executive Director, Cynthia Johnson to call her.  Ms. Johnson knowing what the call was about never took the time to call the lady back…..

This lady then proceeds to contact her Senator as well as the Attorney General’s office and the Lieutenant Governor’s office….  Well the Lieutenant Governor’s office then leaves several messages with Executive Director, Cynthia Johnson, but Ms. Johnson fails to acknowledge these messages until there was a final message threating her with an attorney! Did Ms. Johnson finally return the Lieutenant Governor’s office phone call??   BUT WAIT YOU HAVE NOT HEARD THE BEST PART YET….TAKE A BATHROOM BREAK IF YOU NEED TO…..  Ms. Johnson told the Lieutenant Governor’s Office that she was directed by the Board not to print or send out any part of the rules and regulations, if anyone wanted a copy they needed to print them off the web….. at no point did Ms. Johnson make any offer to try to make this bad situation better, she only made it worse.  The situation was so bad that the Lieutenant Governor’s Office sent a letter to each Board member about this matter.   Once again, Dot and Waylon was very upset that this had gone this far…As a matter of fact Dot started questioning Cynthia Johnson and at one point Dot pointed her thumb at Cynthia, who was setting to the left of Dot, and Cynthia got VERY LOUD with Dot and Dot got LOUD in return and then KAY tells Dot that she could leave the Board room…  But my hat goes off to Dot because she told Kay that she knew where she could go…. But once again here is a clear division in that Board Room….  Cynthia Johnson was wrong. In my opinion she should be fired. Kay and Leisa  were sticking up for Cynthia while Dot and Waylon felt that Cynthia could have prevented this whole mess…  All I have left to say about this is Dot please be careful with that THUMB…   ; )

The Board then when into an Executive Session which lasted about 2 hours…. For those who may not know what an Executive Session is….. It is where the Board has issues that they want or need to talk about and they do not want the Public or ME to know what they are talking about  I have set out side the Board office during several Executive Sessions but this one took the cake….In these sessions they talk about topics and usually they take a vote on the matters they talk about…Well I think that it is strange that during these sessions Board Members can take bathroom breaks together…  Yes during this lengthy Executive Session about half way through it Dot came out for a bathroom break and then returned. A little later Shelly comes out for a bathroom break but before Shelly can return, Kay and Leisa together also take a bathroom break….  Now we have three Board members out at the same time on a bathroom break…  INTERESTING!!!!!!

I know that what you usually hear from my blog is the BAD, DUMB and just STUPID things that go on at the Board Meetings…  But I want to mention that during the meeting I did raise  concern that it is taking 4 to 6 weeks to get your licenses out of this Board office….  Yeah we would think that things would be getting faster not slower but when it comes to getting the licenses out, the process has gotten bogged down… I think the world of Ms. Nedia. She handles the final process of printing your licenses and she really needs some help with getting these licenses out…..   Back on track Melvin…. Our School in Grenada recently went through a change of location…We just moved 2 miles from our building of 40 plus years to a newly renovated building. However, I had concerns with getting my inspection and getting an approval from the Board office so that I would not be closed for more than a few days…… Lesia stepped up to the plate and went on record to state that schools would receive top priority with their inspections as well as priority in issuing the new license….  Thank You Lesia

My final comment…… I am very concerned as to what is going on with our testing…. I asked at this Board meeting about the latest RFP…..  Lesia stated  that “She Knew Nothing”….. Cynthia said that I could check IT’s website but there was nothing to tell at this point…..    MY GUT IS TELLING ME THAT SOMETHING IS UP…..  I  HOPE I AM WORNG BUT I FEEL WE WILL BE LOSING PEARSON VUE!!!!