Originally, my classmates and I were supposed to take the cosmetology state board exam on April 4th. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our tests have been cancelled indefinitely, and now almost seven months later we still have gotten no estimate on when we may be able to get licensed. Any time we try to contact prometric or the DPH we are told to “try again later.” Their reasoning being that they do not have a location for us to test, however to me it seems like an ignorant excuse with online testing resources available and the fact that we have to be spaced apart to take the test as is. As you can imagine, this situation has been extremely stressful for all of us for many reasons. We have been out of work for six months, unable to gain employment as a majority of salons will not hire without licensure. I myself have also had to postpone my plans to further my education as I can not go out of state in case we are given a date. Not to mention the fact that we have been out of school for so long now, and while we were all very prepared to take the test at our given date, a lot of the information that we need to be tested on has been forgotten at this point. With the department of health and the board of labor being closed to the public due to the current state of the world, we are really relying on the state representatives and your help to get some answers for all of us. If you have a moment, please sign and share this petition to bring awareness to this pressing issue. Times are hard for many people right now, and we are really relying on acquiring these licenses for employment.

Thank you for your time,

Shannon Monahan and the class of 2020 cosmetology students.