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A couple who ran a Zephyrhills medical training school that has closed are barred from running another.
By RYAN DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 2, 2001
TAMPA -- A troubled Zephyrhills medical training school has closed, and its owners will face an uphill battle if they ever try to open another.
A state Department of Education board on Thursday unanimously approved a measure that essentially bars John and Lourdes Antoinette Ross from running a school in Florida. The Zephyrhills couple owned the Associated Medical Arts Institute, 5315 Eighth St., which had survived on government money.
The vote during Thursday's Commission for Independent Education meeting at Hillsborough Community College does not mark the end of trouble for the Rosses.
The two agencies that poured more than $170,000 of taxpayer money into the school are not in the clear, either.
Education officials found this summer that the Associated Medical Arts Institute operated without state-required licenses, hired unqualified teachers and improperly trained students. It opened in early 2000 and two government-funded agencies -- although they hadn't properly checked the school's credentials -- began sending students.
The school offered training for medical assistants, phlebotomists and other medical careers. Associated Medical Arts needed a license for each class, but until May 2001 it had none. It finally got a license for one class, medical assisting, yet even that class proved to be only 25 percent of the hours required by the state.
Mrs. Ross, 55, still faces a criminal investigation, officials said Thursday.
The commission will notify the state Board of Nursing that Mrs. Ross signed diplomas indicating that she is a registered nurse, even though she is not, said investigator Guery Davis of the Education Department.
Posing as a nurse is a first-degree misdemeanor.
"Unlicensed activity is dealt with very seriously," said Ruth Stiehl, the board's executive director.
The agencies that sent the school money have not found a way to recover their losses. They might also need to find a way to train the more than 75 students who left the school with worthless diplomas.
The Pasco-Hernando Jobs and Education Partnership board, which uses federal money for job training, spent $132,214.39 to send welfare-to-work clients to the school.
Director Lee Ellzey said Thursday that his board of directors must decide how to try to recoup its losses.
All three case managers who referred students to Associated Medical Arts resigned immediately after Ellzey began an inquiry into his agency's use of the school, Ellzey said. The case managers worked in the Dade City employment office and did not give reasons for their resignations.
Ellzey said his investigation was sparked by stories in the St. Petersburg Times that said the school had received government money despite not having the proper state licenses to ensure the quality of its programs.
He also said he has stripped contract manager David Hamilton of some responsibilities. Hamilton made the initial recommendation to send students to Associated Medical Arts on a trial basis. Over the next year, 58 were sent.
The state Vocational Rehabilitation Services offices funneled $40,077.33 to the unlicensed school. The agency helps disabled people find jobs. Through an assistant, director Carl Miller declined to comment Thursday.
If either agency seeks help from the Commission for Independent Education, it won't find any, Davis said.
"This is their problem," Davis said. "They should have known."
Welfare-to-work clients can get training at another school, Ellzey said. The few students who paid their own way through the school may seek help from the Department of Education, Davis said. Because Miller did not comment, it remained unclear Thursday how rehab students would get new training.
The Rosses sent the commission a letter dated Sunday stating that they had closed their school two days earlier.
If they hadn't, they would have been shut down anyway, said Samuel L. Ferguson, the director of the office that oversees career training schools.
The school had not been offering any classes since investigators temporarily shut it down this summer, Davis said.
To open again, the couple would need a special exception from the commission.
-- Ryan Davis can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245. His e-mail address is rdavis@sptimes.com.