July 2018

Page A43 JULY 2018 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A News Educational ContinueD “Our most recent slate of scholarship winners notably listed compassion as a trait that will help them build a successful career as a funeral director,” said scholarship chair and Foundation chair-elect Stephanie Kann. “We are honored to help these candidates offset the costs as- sociated with earning a degree, and look forward to keeping in touch with them as they grow in their ca- reers.” Awarded twice a year, the Foundation offers up to 18 scholarships, ranging from $1,000-$5,000, to full- and part-time students pursuing a degree in mortuary science from ABFSE-accredited schools or, new this year, accred- ited Canadian schools. Available scholarships include the Foundation ’45, Steve Lang (new this year) and Memorial Classic Schol- arships, and the Shipley Rose Buckner, Joseph E. Hagan and Dennis Schoepp Memorial Scholarships. The Foun- dation also promotes the Brenda Renee Horn and Steve Mack Memorial Scholarships in partnership with the SCI National Scholarship Program. The most recent academic scholarship winners are: • Dennis Schoepp Memorial Scholarship: Brooke Has- sig, Warren, MI; (Wayne State University, Detroit, MI) • Foundation ’45 Academic Scholarships: Bethany Pop- ieski, Pittsburgh, PA ( Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Funeral Service Foundation Awards Academic and Professional Women’s Conference Scholarships Continued from Page A42 Science, Pittsburgh, PA); Kelsey Yantz, Bellevue, OH (Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, Cincinnati, OH); and Rebecca Steckley, Milverton, Ontario, Can- ada (Humber College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) • Joseph E. Hagan Memorial Scholarship: Grace Mabi- ala, Bellevue, KY (Cincinnati College of Mortuary Sci- ence, Cincinnati, OH) • Memorial Classic Scholarships: Levi Elliott, Plym- outh, IN (Worsham College of Mortuary Science, Wheel- ing, IL); Chanda Jeffers, Owings Mills, MD (Com- munity College of Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD) • Shipley Rose Buckner Memorial Scholarship: Vanes- sa Leon-Verde, Vermilion, OH (Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, Cincinnati, OH) • Steve Lang Scholarship: Kati McCarron, George- town, MA (Fine Mortuary College, Norwood, MA.) The Foundation will accept its second cycle of academic scholarship applications from September 1 - November 30. Students enrolled in ABFSE-accredited institutions or accredited Canadian schools may apply online. Com- prehensive submission instructions, award amounts, eli- gibility requirements and scholarship terms and guide- lines are available at www.FuneralServiceFoundation.org. Since 1945, the Funeral Service Foundation has served as the profession’s philanthropic voice. As the charita- ble arm of the National Funeral Directors Association since 1997, the Foundation receives operational sup- port from NFDA and donors across the profession to help advance its mission to support funeral service in building meaningful relationships with the families and the communities it serves. dating test scores, and that it overstepped its authority within the licensure process. This article offers another perspective for your consideration and asks: what else would you have The Conference do when faced with the most sophisticated item- harvesting scheme in funeral service li- censing history? Public protection is the mandate of every regulatory board that makes upThe Confer- ence and, without exception, is the founda- tion of all regulation. Licensure laws typical- ly require both education from an accredited program and a national examination, both of which have the underlying purpose of facilitating public protection through in- creased knowledge of the requirements of the profession and an ability to demonstrate that knowledge on a minimum competen- cy exam. A valid NBE score is paramount to the funeral service profession’s collec- tive agreement that certain basic standards should be universally met prior to the issu- ance of a license. It was only after the exam breach at AAMI was publicized that some in the profession began to question that prem- ise. The Conference greatly appreciates the tremendous support it has received from those who understand the importance of protecting the legitimacy of the NBE and the licensure process. But it is perplexing that a very vocal minority in the profession are raising questions about The Conference’s actions, showing deference to those who had prior access to the very exam that they them- selves presumably worked hard to pass with- out the benefit of having seen the content in advance. Continued from Front Page The Ethos of Public Protection: The Conference’s Story of Doing the Right Thing How Did We Get Here? In the fall of 2013 The Conference began investigating the existence of a systemat- ic, coordinated, and longstanding effort at AAMI to gather and share highly confiden- tial NBE content within the school, which was designed to give AAMI students an unfair advantage on the NBE. The Confer- ence presented its preliminary findings to a federal judge in New York, who ordered an unannounced raid of AAMI’s campus and authorized federal marshals and The Conference to seize thousands of pages of emails and documents. As a result of its ex- tensive investigation and review of those documents, The Conference concluded that there was a good faith basis to invali- date the NBE scores of roughly 300 indi- viduals based on the scheme at AAMI. The seized documents showed that AAMI faculty and staff for many years had been strategically and systematically soliciting and obtaining NBE content from AAMI students after they had taken the exam. The conduct at AAMI was discovered when an anonymous AAMI student contacted The Conference, state regulatory officials, and the accrediting agency for funeral service education programs. The student explained that, in the weeks leading up to an adminis- tration of the NBE, AAMI students would receive materials containing specific ques- tions, direct answers and other highly con- fidential information regarding the content of the NBE from AAMI’s President, Mary Margaret “Meg” Dunn. As the student ex- plained (and as the seized documents later Continued on Page B13