Judge Rules State Can’t Bar Beauty Students From Exam

A Superior Court judge has ruled that the state cannot bar students of Tam’s Beauty School in Garden Grove and El Monte from taking their licensing exams, despite violations found at the schools.

The ruling was accompanied by a settlement agreement in which the owner of Tam’s agreed that the school’s accreditation would be revoked, effective in January, allowing current students to finish their course work.

Between August and October of 1996, state inspectors found students working in unsanitary conditions, including vermin infestations. Authorities said they also found instances of students fraudulently recording training hours. In one case, a student ran in to the Garden Grove school to punch in a time card then ran back out to drive to work elsewhere.

Since then, 1,100 students from the two schools have been barred from taking the licensing exam. The school and several students filed suit, contending that the state was violating its own rules stating that anyone who is at least 17 and meets the set criteria may take the exam.

Van Thai Tran, attorney representing the school, said of the settlement, “Tam’s students will have the right to prove their skills.”

Deputy Attorney General Sharon Derkum, who said the students were insufficiently trained, added, “I feel that justice has been done in that the schools’ licenses have been revoked. They’re out of business.”