State Board Meeting – Master Esthetics Et’ Allll!

EstheticsSkin Chick and I had a chance to go to the board meeting last Monday. On the drive back, I asked Skin Chick to share with me her thought on the board meeting.

Here are her thoughts:

“Last Monday, I was able to spend the day in Olympia at the Cosmetology Department of licensing. The first half of my day consisted of the Cosmetology Advisory Boards quarterly meeting.

It was a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the Cosmetology Board. I say rare for two reasons.

First, because not everyone thinks to attend these meetings, so not a lot of people in our industry know what happens during these meetings.

Secondly, these meetings are only scheduled four times a year, and from what I gathered at the meeting sometimes those meetings can be postponed, or canceled. So really, the ‘advisors’ of our careers here in Washington only meet and discuss important things to our futures a handful of times a year. Does anyone else have or see a problem with this?

This wouldn’t matter so much to me if the inner workings of the Cosmetology (and by that I mean to include Barbers, Estheticians and Nail Techs, too) world were a well oiled machine, but as we all know, this is not a perfect world we live in.

​T​o​ ​o​n​l​y​ ​m​e​e​t​ ​l​e​s​s​ ​t​h​a​n​ ​a​ ​h​a​n​d​f​u​l​ ​o​f​ ​t​i​m​e​s​ ​a​ ​y​e​a​r​ ​s​e​e​m​s​ ​l​i​k​e​ ​it may not be really helping our careers and lives at all. I do not mean to say the Advisory Board does not do a good job, they were interesting and knowledgeable and wonderful people, but I wo9uld love to see a more proactive group, that met more often to work on the important issues they currently only discuss four times a year.​

Ok, I’m done with my rant. On to the meeting. At the meeting they had a few people give reports on items that they’ve been working on this year.

One of the speakers was the representative for Ergometrics, the testing company that we use to test our graduates for their state exams. She gave us stats on passing rates, students’ satisfaction with the testing companies, and some of the changes that will be taking place come October, when we go back to using the NIC exams here in Washington state.

Side note- I was shocked to see what our states overall passing rates were for our students.  I feel grateful that I work at school that takes the time and energy to get their students to be fully prepared and confident to pass their state exams. But what about all those other students struggling to figure it out on their own? It makes me sad, and angry that the people these students have trusted with their futures are letting them down. But that’s a whole other blog!

The afternoon, after the Advisory meeting, consisted of another Rules Hearing for the law changes that will be taking place next year. It was mainly the same song and dance that happened at the last meeting I was at, but having the advisory board there was beneficial. Another benefit of this meeting is that the Program Manager of the Department of Licensing, Susan, was there leading the meeting. Susan was great, she kept the meeting flowing smoothly, kept people from getting too loud, rowdy, out of hand. It was interesting to see such a wide range of people there to state their cases, to ask for this wording to be used, or that, and to see how a different group of Estheticians felt about the law change.

I can’t say that all D​O​L​ ​h​ea​r​i​n​gs are this interesting or exciting, but I might be interested in going to another meeting down in Olympia to gain more insight.

Overall, I’m glad I had the opportunity to join this meeting, just to be a quiet observer and gain more perspective.

I would still encourage anybody who is willing ad able to go to a hearing, or an Advisory Board meeting, whenever they have a chance. ​You may gain great perspective from these meetings, learn something new, and, as always, you have the chance to voice your own opinion and help evolve our industry.

Until next time,

Skin Chick

Evergreen Beauty College offers esthetics and cosmetology programs. Contact us for more information.

 

Author
Frank Trieu
Vice President of Business Development & Industry Relations

Frank Trieu is a cosmetology industry leader, and despite his accomplishments and accolades, he still prioritizes students on the Evergreen campus. Through building relationships within the community and local salons, retail stores, and spas, he helps facilitate job placements for aspiring beauty professionals using his expansive network.

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