I attended the Florida Board of Massage Therapy meeting this week in order to observe the proceedings between the Board and the NCBTMB. In April 2008, the FL Board had voted on a rule change allowing the state to replace the NCB examination with the MBLEx. The NCB responded with a lawsuit, meant to force the state into continuing to accept their exam. Florida is one of the 30 states that has joined the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB), and the Board felt that they were acting within their rights to adopt the Federation’s exam as the path to licensure.
Unfortunately, Florida is just one of a long list of states that the NCB has felt compelled to interfere in. Acting on the advice of Florida’s Assistant Attorney General, and after three calls for a vote, the Board agreed to bow to the demands of the NCB–for a period of two years. The settlement also allows the MBLEx to be immediately implemented as an exam, giving applicants a choice, and specifically prohibits the Board from recommending one exam over another. The first two votes were split, with several Board members speaking in defense of the MBLEx as the exam of choice. The AAG pointed out that the possible outcome, if the settlement was not accepted, was that the FL Board could be held liable for all legal costs related to the appeals that the NCB would certainly file should they chance to lose.  Rather than taking a chance on bankrupting their Board, the Board members decided to take the advice of the AAG and accept the terms of the settlement on the third go-round.
I found it interesting that there was no public comment period allowed in this proceeding. Debra Persinger was there to represent the FSMTB. The NCB was there in force: Chairman Neal Delaporta, along with Paul Lindamood, CEO; Board member Monica Reno, and two attorneys. It was almost comical to see Ms. Persinger sitting alone at one table to give her statement to the Board, while the other table was filled with the posse from the NCB. Persinger gave a brief statement, during which she was classy enough to say that she did not want this lawsuit to drag on to the detriment of the Board, and the the Florida Board should do whatever necessary to resolve the matter and move forward as soon as possible.
Lindamood, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to drone on and on, although in all fairness to him, he did acknowledge that the NCB has had many shortcomings in the area of service in the past few years, which was the main reason the FL Board was casting them aside to begin with. He also deferred to Delaporta several times during the proceedings. I sat there wondering why the Board chair allowed them to keep on singing their own praises for so long in light of the brevity of Ms. Persinger’s comments. It seemed very unbalanced to me, and it certainly did not go unnoticed by the other spectators in the room.
Lindamood and Delaporta seemed especially proud of the 3/5 policy that the NCB implemented last year, which in my humble opinion is one of the most fundamentally flawed policies I have ever seen. The crux of it is that if a student fails an NCB exam three times, he must complete 100 additional hours of education. If a student fails an NCB exam five times, he must complete an additional 500 hours of education. However, there is nothing in that policy that stipulates what content area the education must be in. If a student blows the exam on the massage theory part, for instance, 100 additional hours of ethics, business, and anatomy could be taken, which will be of no help to the student in the actual content area he was deficient in. FL Board member Lorena Hayes pointed out that there are currently no programs 100 hours in length in FL schools, to which Delaporta replied that a student could take continuing education classes. Duh.
This issue can be revisited in two years, and since this Board had already voted once to cast aside the NCB, chances are that will still be the outcome two years from now, as filing a lawsuit against a Board does not usually have the effect of endearing the filing party to the party it was filed against. During the meeting, numerous school owners and program directors approached Persinger, as well as the Federation’s GR liason, Sally Hacking, to ask questions about the MBLEx. They all seemed very eager to set their students on the path towards the MBLEx, regardless of the outcome of the settlement. While the Board itself is prohibited from recommending one exam over another, school owners and program directors are free to do as they please when it comes to recommending an exam for their students, and the students ultimately have freedom of choice as to which exam they will take.
One more personal observation: I spent my short time in FL hanging out with Persinger, Sally Hacking, and some wonderful folks from ABMP and AMTA. In spite of the seriousness of the matter at hand, we somehow managed to all have a wonderful visit with each other, short but sweet; we all laughed a lot and had a great time. I couldn’t help but notice that the folks from the NCB, on the other hand, looked like they were there to attend a state funeral. I never saw any of them so much as crack a smile. I’m relatively certain they weren’t too happy to see me there, either. Oh well, you just can’t please everybody.
Peace & Prosperity,
Laura Allen
April 25th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
I stand corrected; one of the people that I thought was an attorney for the NCB was not; I have been informed that he was from the AAG office in Florida. Doesn’t make any difference to the outcome, but I like to report the facts.
April 28th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Thanks for keeping up with the antics of the NCBTMB. It is always amusing and interesting to hear.
I can’t stop thinking about a news blurb I read the other day from a Canadian author on the state of the economy in the US asking he doesn’t know what it is going to take for America to wake up – apparently it hasn’t happened yet. The same holds true for people who support the NCBTMB still – when are massage therapists going to wake up!
Julie
April 29th, 2009 at 4:04 am
I WANT to support the NCBTMB….I don’t want them to go away. I just want them to get it together and move forward instead of continuing on their present path of self-destruction. I’ve been nationally certified since 2000, and an approved provider since 2002. Unfortunately, this organization has been on a downward slide for a long time before the FSMTB or the MBLEx ever existed, and now they seem determined to bankrupt themselves. To me, it’s very sad to watch what was once a foundation of our profession crumble into so many pieces, with a few people at the top leading the charge. I am afraid if they continue on their present path, they won’t even be here a few years from now.
I have made the offer many times for the management of the NCB to post a response here and of course they never do. In spite of Neal Delaporta and Paul Lindamood paying lipservice to personally responding to emails, I can tell you right now they don’t respond to mine, and I’ve sent a few.
The certificants have got to rise up and tell these people how you feel. Sitting in silence is compounding the problem. I get a lot of private emails and even phone calls from people who won’t post on this blog because they are afraid of some kind of repercussion. I repeat, this is a free country, and your certification cannot be taken away for expressing an opinion. Speak up! As long as you sit there and do nothing to express your disappointment at the way things are going, they will continue to run this organization into the ground.
April 29th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
I am still not sure what is happening here. I have a license with the state of Florida and I have been a member with NCBTMB. Now after all these years they are going to let me down! Where is the managment of all those officers that have been voted in. Why is this even happening?
Where is our support?
April 30th, 2009 at 4:35 am
Penelope,
Don’t be distressed. You certainly don’t have to give up your national certification if you want to keep it. I have kept mine in the hope that this organization is going to turn around and go the right way one of these days. If your license is current you do not have to take the new exam or anything like that. Just do your CE hours like you’re supposed to and all will be well.
Therapists often have the idea that a state massage board is supposed to be there to support them, and that is NOT true in any way. A state board’s obligation is to protect the public by regulating schools, licensing therapists, and dealing with the bad apples who infiltrate the profession.