Meeting Minutes

Present: Vincent Ferrara, LIBS (Chairperson)
Lorraine Altman, Xincon Tech
David Brieff, BPSS
John Cann, Apex Tech
Samantha Cooper, IKON
Zelda Diaz, Apex Tech
Janice Gileski, IKON
Allan Goldberg, Fedcap
Jerry McAvoy, BPSS
Frank Pappacoda, LIBS
Lisa Park, GT Solutions, Inc.
Tom Rose, NYS DOL
Anthony Stanziani, The Chubb Institute

Next Meeting: May 3, 2001, 10:30am

NYS Dept. of Labor, Commissioner’s Suite
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014-0706

The meeting started at 10:55am by Vincent Ferrara.

On March 20, 2001, Terry Zaleski will lead a group of 15-20 people to speak to legislators in Albany regarding the expansion of TAP eligibility.

Frank Pappacoda proposed the option of listing our courses by clock hours or credit hours. Being able to list credit hours would have the following benefits:

• More compatible with traditional schools. Students may be able to transfer the credits more easily if the measurement is comparable ("apples to apples").
• Student success could be measured by academic progress (tests passed, coursework completed) vs. "seat time"
• More Title IV favorable. Shorter programs would qualify based on the credit hour conversion.
• More favorable for VA funding
• Tuition reimbursement. Some employers only reimburse their employees for credit courses.

It was noted that three states have already changed to the option of credit hours. In NY, the requirement for clock hours may be in the regulations. Under current regulations, degree-granting schools in NY are the only schools allowed to offer credit hours.

John Cann stressed the fact that attendance standards would still need to be a requirement for graduation. He noted that some training requires substantial hands-on time in the classroom to gain the knowledge necessary.

A change in the legislation may be needed to allow non-degree granting schools to offer credit hour courses. It was suggested that a position paper be written which will list the pros and cons of credit hours for students and the industry in general. LIBS was going to contact Carla Hogan to see if she would be available to draft the paper for this committee to review.

This sub-committee would like to pursue the option taking attendance electronically. The laws and regulations state the need for hard-copy attendance records, but BPSS has stated that it would be possible to store school files in electronic format.

Current teacher licensure standards are outdated; a suggestion was made that the standards need to be reviewed. When considering a candidate’s qualifications, it the following proposals were made:

• Recognize training experience as work experience
• Recognize credits from nationally recognized schools
• Recognize certifications
• Recognize education from proprietary schools
• Mentoring programs for upcoming teachers

The next meeting of the Legislative Task Force will be May 3, 2001, starting at 10:30am.

The meeting concluded at 1:00pm.