THE BARNSTABLE PATRIOT: Salon owner buoyed by federal effort to crack down on for-profit schools

Career College Central Summary:

If you mention the words “Empire Beauty School” around Lenny Holtzman, he’s likely to get so upset that you’ll think he’s either going to hit you or have a stroke.
“Any (expletive) school that wants to take me on, let's go. Show me what you can do with a head of hair,” Holtzman said on Nov. 11 during an interview with the Patriot.
Holtzman, 72, the owner of Roots Organic Salon in Marstons Mills, has been waging a decades-long war against the hair schools that teach the process and requirements to pass the state certification test in the commonwealth. He’s filed and refiled legislation over the years to deregulate the process, so aspiring hair stylists can learn in apprenticeships rather than emerge from an expensive pre-certification program at schools like Empire with no real skills.
“We have students who teach other students how to pass a test,” said Holtzman.
Holtzman said Empire gives “the students a $14,000 payment book and says, ‘You now have a skill. Go get a job.’ None of those hairdressing kids get a job. They work at Dunkin’ Donuts to pay off the school,” said Holtzman.
Empire, of course, begs to differ regarding all of Holtzman’s contentions.
Angela Watson, director of public and media relations for the company, said every instructor at the Hyannis Empire is certified both as a cosmetologist and teacher by the state of Massachusetts.
And the students are taught to perform basic salon skills by the time they walk out the door, she said.
“We train students to gain entry-level employment in a salon, just like any post-secondary school. You don’t walk out the door with experience,” said Watson.
Watson also said it’s the state that makes up the rules for cosmetology certification and the length of the pre-certification program, not Empire.
“We actually train above those hours, to make sure that students walk out the door to be successful,” said Watson. “If he feels there should be more training, that should be brought up before the state board of cosmetology.”