Firefighters with KWU / WNU degrees reinstated, grandfathered, back-paid

"Six firefighter’s pay increases were suspended after it was discovered their bachelor’s degrees were from an unaccredited distance learning institution, Warren National University, formerly Kennedy-Western University, based in Wyoming."

"According to a 1994 ordinance regarding education pay increases for city employees, any full-time employee who has received a four-year degree in a job-related area from an accredited college, university or professional school is eligible for the incentive."

"The six firefighters will now be grandfathered into the new ordinance. They will also receive back pay from the time the pay raises were suspended."

“What we’ve done is closed the loophole from the previous ordinance,” said Councilmember Teresa Nichols.


http://www.pelhamreporter.com/2009/08/17/council-reinstates-six-firefighters-education-incentive-pay-raises/#respond

August 2009
Alabama
Shaking my head at this one.

 

The State of Alabama has an interesting take on education because of schools in the position of the unaccredited Birmingham School of Law. BSOL graduates can sit for the Alabama Bar.

The State of Alabama has published the following in the vacancy announcements.

"State of Alabama Personnel Department Policy on Accepting College Coursework, Post-Secondary andAdvanced Degrees

1. Specific college coursework required for a job, as well as Bachelor’s, graduate, post graduate, and doctoral degrees will be accepted from the schools accredited by any of the six regional accreditation
associations in the United States. These associations are listed below.
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)
• Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA)
• Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)
• North Central Association of Colleges and Schools – The Higher Learning Commission (NCA-HLC)
• New England Association of Schools and Colleges – Commission on Institutions of Higher Education
(NEASC-CIHE)
• Western Association of Schools and Colleges – Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and
Universities (WASC-ACSCU)

2. Coursework or degrees from schools that have not been accredited by a regional accreditation association will be accepted if a regionally accredited school considers the coursework or degree to be an acceptable
prerequisite for admission to an advanced degree program. For example, if a regionally accredited school accepts an applicant’s bachelor’s degree for admittance into a graduate degree program, State Personnel will
accept the degree. In the case of required college coursework (but no degree requirement), State Personnel will accept the college coursework if a regionally accredited school accepts the coursework towards a postsecondary
degree (e.g., a bachelor’s degree). This must be documented by a letter of acceptance from the regionally accredited school. State Personnel will review such requests on a case-by-case basis.

Note: This policy is subject to change. Certain state agencies may have additional requirements."

Most of the folks I know who sit on city councils have adopted similar policies. Number two above is pretty easy to provide considering the number of KW grads in various positions throughout the nation. More importantly if you do a search on "BS, Kennedy-Western" site:.edu you will see that not only have some schools allowed KW graduates into graduate programs but a couple actually are employees at regionally accredited schools. Shouldn't be too hard to get the required letter to meet the state requirements.

So, why fight a protracted legal battle? The situtation isn't right but sometimes we just have to wait for what goes around to come around.

 

They violated their own policy which is the most interesting part.

"According to a 1994 ordinance regarding education pay increases for city employees, any full-time employee who has received a four-year degree in a job-related area from an accredited college, university or professional school is eligible for the incentive."

"have some schools allowed KW graduates into graduate programs but a couple actually are employees at regionally accredited schools."

I'm not aware of instances of acceptance into grad school.

I do recall instances where a faculty listed a KWU "degree", but mention of the degree on their bios generally disappear quickly.

 

how about this one:

http://www.brownmackie.edu/MichiganCity/AboutUs/Faculty.aspx

“Susan K. Zolvinski
MBA, Argosy University
BS, Kennedy Western University
AAS, Commonwealth Business College”