Special Call Meeting 1-11-2014

Cosmetology Board held a SPECIAL CALL meeting Sunday 1-11-2014  for the purpose to discuss BOARD LEGISLATION , RULES AND REGULATION REVISIONS, NIC CONFERENCE, RFP PROCESS!!!!!!!!

The first part of the day was spend discussing the things that the Board would like to see changed or updated with the laws that govern Cosmetology…  A couple of big surprises here!!!!!

1. Raising the cost of your license fees… Leisa McElreath  made a motion to raise all fees which the Board charges…  Yes certain members of the Board want to raise your Cosmetology License fee from $50.00 to $70.00; Instructor License fee from $80.00 to $100.00……   This motion was voted on with the following results…..

Leisa McElreath —YES Shelly Harsin —YES Dorothy Ennis —NO  Waylon Garrett–NO  and your Board President Teresa Whitman broke the tie by voting YES….   Can you believe this…  I guess certain members of  the Board needs this extra money to help fund trips to the NIC Conference as you see this is also part of the special call meeting…..   MAKES YOU WONDER!!!!!!!!

2.  Allowing Instructors working at a Cosmetology School to be able to serve on the Board… Waylon Garrett opened discussion as to amending the law to allow for Instructors working at a Cosmetology school to be able to serve on the Board.  Waylon stated that he felt that since Board members no longer tested students that it would not hurt to have a school representative on the Board.

Board President Teresa Whitman got very hostile towards this ideal… She strongly stated that she was against it and that she had Rep. Charles Young to request an opinion from the Attorney General’s office which verified her position.  I asked her for a copy of that opinion and I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for it.  Of all the people on the Board I would have bet money that Teresa Whitman would have been ok with this.  After all she had to quit working at Final Touch due to her appointment to the Board…..

Leisa McElreath made a statement that the Board of Cosmetology was a regulatory Board to protect the public and representatives of the schools had no place on the Board….  What bothers me the most is that you have these salon owners that are setting on this Board making all these decisions and that’s ok…  Waylon was not asking for school owners to be on the Board he just felt that the Board might want to consider instructors who working in the school to be allowed….. Needless to say this ideal never made it to a VOTE

3.  Apprenticeship… This has been a hot topic at several Board meeting in 2013…..  Waylon Garrett and Dorothy Ennis are strongly against the Mississippi State Board of Cosmetology accepting any out state hours that are achieved through APPRENTICESHIP… However Leisa McElreath and Shelly Harsin feel that the it’s ok….    WHAT THE H— are they thinking we do not do APPRENTICESHIP here in Mississippi….  It has been stated that someone at the Board agency in 2013 allowed someone to do reciprocity with apprenticeship hours…   BAD….BAD….BAD

Waylon made a motion that the Board create some language in the law to ensure that Apprenticeship hours would not be consider for reciprocity…..    Vote was taken……………  Waylon Garrett and Dorothy Ennis voted YES  and Leisa McElreath and Shelly Harsing voted NO  and President Teresa Whitman broke the tie by voting NO!!!!!  Is everyone reading this clearly….We have THREE BOARD MEMBERS who are endorsing  Apprenticeship!!!!!

There were several other issued that the Board addressed:

No Longer licensing Wigologist ; Crossover Barber to do 600 hours instead of 500; Adjusting the hours need to achieve Master Licenses; Correcting language of students to have high school diploma or GED, and no longer having the language of aptitude test; and Raising Fines……