February 1, 2012 Commission Meeting
Commission Actions
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The Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA) has concluded its February 1, 2012 Commission Meeting.
By action of the Commission, the following schools have received renewal of accreditation, withdrawn, placed on show cause, placed on probation or completed a substantive change process (renewal schools placed on show cause, probation or deferral are considered accredited institutions):
Renewal of Accreditation: (Renewal of Accreditation expires April 2015)
• Alexandria School of Scientific Therapeutics (Alexandria, IN): The school was placed on Probation at the February 2011 meeting. The school was reviewed again at the July 2011 meeting and the Commission decided to continue the Probation status. The school’s next review of its Probation status was contingent on the pending site visit to happen fall/winter 2011. The site visit occurred on December 1, 2011. At its February 1, 2012 meeting, the Commission made a motion to remove the Probation status and grant renewal of accreditation for the five year period April 2010 through April 2015 effective immediately with no remaining conditions.
Change of Name:
• From: Sage School of Massage & Healing Arts
• To: Sage School of Massage
Branch Location Closed:
• Academy of Massage Therapy – (Jersey City, NJ) – effective November 2011
Voluntary Withdrawal of Accreditation:
• College of Southern Nevada – (Las Vegas, NV): effective January 16, 2012
Continued Probation:
• Dayton School of Medical Massage – (Dayton and Lima, OH)
• Cincinnati School of Medical Massage – (Cincinnati, OH)
• Cleveland Institute of Medical Massage – (Cleveland, OH)
Summary: At the July 2011 meeting, the Commission acted to place each of the four (4) locations on Probation for non-compliance with COMTA notification requirements. In addition the Commission had also placed the schools on Provisional Accreditation Status, as the first step in a Change of Institutional Control review, which also requires a site visit of each of the four (4) locations. The site visit occurred on September 26-28, 2011. At its recent February 1, 2012 meeting, the Commission acted to remove the “Provisional Accreditation Status” and approve the change of ownership while continuing the “Probation” status which will be evaluated again upon receipt of the interim report. The Probation is expected to be reviewed at the April 2012 meeting.
Show Cause:
• Educating Hands School of Massage – (Miami, FL) – The school was placed on Probation at the April 2011 Commission meeting. The school’s Probation status was reviewed at the September 2011 and the Commission decided to continue the Probation status pending review of the school’s 2010 annual report. The school’s Probation was reviewed again at the October 2011 meeting and the Commission decided to continue the Probation status. At its recent February 1, 2012 the Commission made a motion to place the school on Show Cause status for lack of response to the October 2011 Commission directives.
A detailed description of the Show Cause status can be found in the COMTA Policies and Procedures manual, page 8.
Revocation of Accreditation: (UPDATE)
• Mississippi School of Therapeutic Massage – (Jackson, MS)
Summary:
As you may know per the recent January 17, 2012 COMTA newsletter, the hearing for the Mississippi School of Therapeutic Massage Appeal of Revocation of Accreditation was completed on January 9, 2012. The committee affirmed the decision of the Commission to revoke the accreditation of the Mississippi School of Therapeutic Massage. The revocation was effective immediately and has been publicly posted on the COMTA website concurrent with the January 17th notification. Within 60 days, a brief summary of the reason for revocation will be posted as well.
To review when the Revocation was placed, please click here to visit the September 2011 actions.